Eurasian Beaver
Photo © holycrab
Photo © holycrab — CC BY 4.0 — Source: iNaturalist photo #518691412The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) or European beaver is a species of beaver widespread across Eurasia, with a rapidly increasing population of at least 1.5 million in 2020. The Eurasian beaver was hunted to near-extinction for both its fur and castoreum, with only about 1,200 beavers in eight relict populations from France to Mongolia in the early 20th century. It has since been reintroduced into much of its former range and now lives from Western, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Russia through China and Mongolia, with about half the population in Russia. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List. == Taxonomy == Castor fiber was the scientific name used by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, who described the beaver in his work Systema Naturae. Between 1792 and 1997, several Eurasian beaver zoological specimens were described and proposed as subspecies, including: C. f. albus and C. f. solitarius by Robert Kerr in 1792 C. f. fulvus and C. f. variegatus by Johann Matthäus Bechstein in 1801 C. f. galliae by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1803 C. f. flavus, C. f. varius and C. f. niger by Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest in 1822 C. f. gallicus Johann Baptist Fischer…
Färnebofjärden National Park
Gävleborgs län, Sweden
+170 birds+20 mammals
Where the Gävle River widens into a sprawling delta before meeting the Gulf of Bothnia, Färnebofjärden National Park unfolds across a landscape of exceptional ecological complexity.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKDovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park
Trøndelag, Norway
+127 birds+17 mammals
Granite peaks and deep valleys carved by ancient glaciers define this vast mountain wilderness straddling the spine of central Norway. Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park rises where subalpine…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKHarz National Park
Harz (LK Goslar), Germany
+141 birds+38 mammals
Where granite peaks rise above beech and spruce forests, the Harz unfolds as one of Germany's most biodiverse upland landscapes. Straddling the border between Lower Saxony…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLower Oder Valley National Park
Schwedt/Oder, Germany
+216 birds+21 mammals
Where the Oder River winds through northeastern Brandenburg, the Lower Oder Valley National Park protects one of Central Europe's most vital wetland systems. This sprawling mosaic…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSchleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer National Park
Germany
+378 birds+49 mammals
Where the North Sea ebbs and flows across a vast expanse of exposed mud and sand, the Schleswig-Holsteinisches Wattenmeer National Park reveals one of Europe's most…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSaxon Switzerland National Park
Sebnitz, Germany
+118 birds+9 mammals
Sandstone cliffs and narrow gorges define this corner of eastern Saxony, where the Elbe River has carved a dramatic landscape of towering rock formations and densely…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKBavarian Forest National Park
Germany
+127 birds+18 mammals
Where ancient spruce and fir forests rise across the Bohemian plateau, the Bavarian Forest National Park unfolds as one of central Europe's most intact temperate woodland…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKŠumava National Park
Germany
+137 birds+12 mammals
Where the Bohemian Forest rises along the border between Czech and German territories, Šumava National Park unfolds across a landscape of ancient woodlands, glacial valleys, and…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKEryri National Park
Gwynedd, United Kingdom
+199 birds+36 mammals
Where granite peaks rise abruptly from the Snowdonia landscape, Eryri National Park encompasses one of Britain's most dramatic mountain terrain. The park's rugged plateaus, deep glacial…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSouth Downs National Park
Chichester, United Kingdom
+298 birds+45 mammals
Chalk downland ridges rise and fall across the South Downs, their open grasslands and beech hangers creating a mosaic of habitats that has shaped human settlement…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKDanube Delta Biosphere Reserve
Tulcea, Romania
+277 birds+27 mammals
Where the Danube surrenders to the Black Sea, a vast labyrinth of channels, reed beds, and freshwater lakes sprawls across nearly 13,400 square kilometers of eastern…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPallas-Yllästunturi National Park
Muonio, Finland
+137 birds+19 mammals
Where boreal forest meets fell, across the Finnish Arctic frontier, nearly 3,650 square kilometres of pristine subarctic wilderness unfold in a landscape sculpted by glacial epochs…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCévennes National Park
Vebron, France
+187 birds+63 mammals
Where granite gorges slice through the limestone plateaux of southern France, the Cévennes Cœur National Park unfolds across nearly 3,500 square kilometres of one of Europe's…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKVanoise National Park
Val-Cenis, France
+107 birds+29 mammals
Where the French Alps rise in serrated ranks above the Maurienne valley, Vanoise National Park sprawls across more than 1,700 square kilometres of high-altitude wilderness—a realm…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKŐrség National Park
Kondorfa, Hungary
+88 birds+12 mammals
Where low, forested ridges roll across the border landscape between Hungary and Slovenia, Őrség National Park encompasses a patchwork of beech and oak woodlands, wetland corridors,…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKAggtelek National Park
Szin, Hungary
+119 birds+13 mammals
Where limestone karst terrain rises and plunges across North Hungary's borderlands, Aggtelek National Park unfolds across 543 square kilometres of one of Europe's most geologically dramatic…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKHortobágy National Park
Hortobágy, Hungary
+260 birds+17 mammals
Across the North Great Plain of Hungary stretches one of Europe's most expansive semi-natural grassland systems, where horizon-wide vistas of steppe and wetland create a landscape…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKDuna-Ipoly National Park
Dömös, Hungary
+208 birds+19 mammals
Where the Danube curves through central Hungary, the limestone hills and forested valleys of Duna-Ipoly National Park create a landscape that feels caught between seasons and…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKFertő–hanság National Park
Fertőszéplak, Hungary
+246 birds+11 mammals
Where the Austro-Hungarian plains meet the foothills of Western Transdanubia, nearly 900 square kilometres of wetland, reed bed, and mixed woodland form one of Central Europe's…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSkuleskogen
Nätra District, Sweden
+158 birds+11 mammals
Where boreal forest meets the raw Höga Kusten coastline, Skuleskogen National Park unfolds across nearly 47 square kilometers of one of northern Sweden's most dramatic landscapes.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKCamargue Regional Nature Park
Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, France
+378 birds+48 mammals
Where the Rhône Delta sprawls into the Mediterranean, a landscape of stark and haunting beauty emerges—vast salt marshes punctuated by shallow lagoons, reed beds, and scrubland…
VIEW NATURAL PARKLoch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park
Duchray, United Kingdom
+188 birds+40 mammals
Where ancient woodlands rise from glassy lochs and rugged Highland peaks pierce the lowland horizon, Scotland's most biodiverse landscape unfolds across 720 square kilometres of wild…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKKarula National Park
Võru County, Estonia
+110 birds+9 mammals
Where glacial lakes pierce a landscape of boreal forest and bogland, Karula National Park sprawls across 222 square kilometers of southeastern Estonia, a sanctuary where the…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSoomaa National Park
Viljandi County, Estonia
+172 birds+20 mammals
Across the boglands of south-central Estonia, where water dominates more than half the landscape, lies one of northern Europe's most hydrologically dynamic national parks. The terrain…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLahemaa National Park
Lääne-Viru County, Estonia
+237 birds+25 mammals
Where the Baltic coast meets temperate forest in northwestern Estonia, Lahemaa National Park sprawls across more than 1,300 square kilometers of deeply character-filled terrain. Coastal wetlands…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKValdaysky National Park
Валдайский муниципальный округ, Russia
+102 birds+5 mammals
Rolling glacial hills rise and fall across the Novgorod Oblast landscape, their slopes mantled in dense boreal forest that stretches toward a horizon punctuated by countless…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKNizhnyaya Kama National Park
Yelabuzhsky District, Russia
+92 birds+7 mammals
Where the Kama River carves through the eastern margins of European Russia, a sprawling mosaic of floodplain forests, oxbow lakes, and riparian grasslands protects one of…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKLosiny Ostrov National Park
Balashikhinsky District, Russia
+173 birds+20 mammals
Across the forested plateaus of Moscow Oblast, where the Losinka River winds through mixed woodland and marshy clearings, lies a national park that captures the ecological…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKV. Peskov Voronezhsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve
Kaverinskiy, Russia
+42 birds+4 mammals
Across the wooded plains of western Russia's Voronezh Oblast, the V. Peskov Voronezhsky State Nature Biosphere Reserve sprawls across 564 square kilometres of temperate forest, wetland,…
VIEW BIOSPHERE RESERVETsentralno-Lesnoy
Nelidovsky District, Russia
+76 birds+9 mammals
Where vast boreal forests sweep across the landscape of Tver Oblast, a primordial woodland realm unfolds across 419 square kilometres of largely intact taiga. Central Forest…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPieniny National Park
Tylka, Poland
+66 birds+3 mammals
Where the Dunajec River cuts through limestone escarpments in the heart of Lesser Poland, Pieniny National Park unfolds across roughly 95 square kilometres of gorge, forest,…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKWielkopolska National Park
Trzebaw, Poland
+141 birds+8 mammals
Across the glacial plains of Greater Poland, where ice-age geology shaped a landscape of shallow lakes and mixed forest, Wielkopolska National Park stretches across nearly 190…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPolesie National Park
Michałów, Poland
+172 birds+9 mammals
Where the Pripyat River winds through eastern Poland, Polesie National Park sprawls across 418 square kilometres of a landscape shaped by water, peat, and millennia of…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKMagura National Park
Kotań, Poland
+133 birds+14 mammals
Where the Pieniny Mountains rise in soft folds across the Subcarpathian landscape, Magura National Park spans 635 square kilometres of mixed deciduous and coniferous woodland, limestone…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKOjców National Park
Ojców, Poland
+87 birds+4 mammals
Where limestone gorges carve through the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, Ojców National Park unfolds across 82 square kilometres of one of Poland's most geologically dramatic landscapes. Towering cliff…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKBieszczady National Park
Bieszczady County, Poland
+131 birds+16 mammals
Where the Carpathian foothills roll across southeastern Poland, a vast upland wilderness of beech and spruce forest unfolds across nearly 1,575 square kilometres, sheltering one of…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKDrawa National Park
Strzelce-Drezdenko County, Poland
+84 birds+11 mammals
Where the Drawa River winds through northwestern Poland's sandy lowlands, a landscape of unexpected ecological richness unfolds across 508 square kilometres of protected forest and wetland.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKWolin National Park
Kamień County, Poland
+232 birds+21 mammals
Where the Baltic shoreline meets vast wetland complexes and Pleistocene woodlands, Wolin National Park unfolds across nearly 440 square kilometres of northwestern Poland's most biodiverse terrain.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKSłowiński National Park
Smołdzino, Poland
+217 birds+16 mammals
Where the Baltic shoreline surrenders to vast inland dunes and freshwater lagoons, Słowiński National Park spans nearly 610 square kilometres of one of Europe's most dynamic…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKTatra National Park
Zakopane, Poland
+126 birds+17 mammals
Where the High Tatras rise abruptly from the Carpathian foothills, Tatra National Park protects one of Europe's most dramatic mountain landscapes across its 507 square kilometres.…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPieniny National Park
Sromowce Niżne, Poland
+112 birds+4 mammals
Where limestone cliffs rise steeply from the Dunajec River Gorge, Pieniny National Park unfolds across 48 square kilometres of some of Poland's most dramatic terrain. The…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKKampinos National Park
Roztoka, Poland
+183 birds+18 mammals
Sandy pine forests and wetland mosaics spread across the glacial plains northwest of Warsaw, where Kampinos National Park protects one of central Europe's most distinctive lowland…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKUjście Warty National Park
Gorzów County, Poland
+212 birds+9 mammals
Where the Warta River spreads into its delta before joining the Oder, wetland and woodland merge into one of central Europe's most vital ecological crossroads. Ujście…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKBiebrza National Park
Goniądz, Poland
+242 birds+33 mammals
Where the Narew River sprawls across northeastern Poland's flatlands, Biebrza National Park unfolds as one of Europe's largest and most ecologically vital wetland complexes. Encompassing roughly…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKBiałowieża National Park
Bialowieza, Poland
+177 birds+23 mammals
Straddling the border between Poland and Belarus, this primordial forest landscape encompasses one of Europe's last remaining expanses of old-growth woodland, where ancient trees rise through…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKPleshcheyevo Lake National Park
Pereslavl-Zalessky, Russia
+137 birds+4 mammals
Where the continental forests of western Russia meet the glacial imprint of the last ice age, Pleshcheyevo Lake sprawls across the landscape near Pereslavl-Zalessky like a…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKValdai National Park
Валдайский муниципальный округ, Russia
+102 birds+5 mammals
A tapestry of boreal forest, glacial lakes, and wetland complexes spreads across the Novgorod Oblast landscape, where Valdai National Park anchors one of Russia's most ecologically…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKZyuratkul National Park
Satkinsky District, Russia
+72 birds+7 mammals
Where granite ridges rise above the southern Urals, Zyuratkul National Park unfolds across a landscape shaped by continental climate and ancient geology. The park's defining feature…
VIEW NATIONAL PARKTaganay National Park
Кусинский муниципальный округ, Russia
+82 birds+9 mammals
Where granite ridges thrust through the boreal landscape of the southern Urals, Taganay National Park reveals a wilderness shaped by ancient geology and a subarctic climate…
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