1. Outdoor Education “Crazy Critter” Series presents: 10/1/13 The Mountain Beaver “The Pacific Northwest's mysterious little bugger.”

2. Mountain Beaver (Aplodontia rufa) • A.K.A. Boomer, Aplodontia, Ground Bear, Giant Mole, Sewellel Beaver • Aplo (simple) dontia (tooth) rufa (reddish-brown)

3. Habitat • Mountain Beavers live in somewhat intricate burrows that have a “kitchen”, “living room” and “bathroom”. • Mountain Beavers prefer moist forests and thickets.

4. Range • Mountain Beaver can be found from British Columbia South to Central California. • Mountain Beaver are primarily found West of the Cascade Range.

5. Nutrition • The mountain beaver mostly eats smaller shrub type plants, but can eat the branches of younger trees too. • The mountain beaver often makes a “haystack” by pilingvegetation around the entrance to the burrow.

6. Benefits Create burrows that mix soil and are used by many other animals including rabbits, coyotes, skunks, etc. Negatives They eat . . . A lot. Cause damage to vegetation in gardens and reforestation projects. Burrows can cave in and create holes or ditches.

7. Other Interesting Information: • The mountain beaver is the oldest known living rodent on earth (about 40 million years old). Some scientists consider them a “living fossil”. • Mountain Beavers have primitive kidneys, so they need to drink about 20-30% of their body weight each day. (That would be like a 100 pound kid drinking almost 4 gallons of water a day!!)

8. Thank you for listening!