Castor Canadensis is the largest rodent in North America and a KEYSTONE species to our wetlands. A keystone species “is a species on which other species in an ecosystem largely depend, such that if it were removed the ecosystem would change drastically or cease to exist.”
Beavers maintain wetlands that sponge up floodwaters, alleviate droughts and floods, lesson erosion, raise the water table and act as the “earth’s kidneys” to purify water according to the Beaver Wetlands and Wildlife Association. Almost half of North America’s threatened or endangered species rely on wetlands. Freshwater wetlands have been rated the world’s most valuable land-based ecosystem.
Castor Canadensis, Beaver