The Mountain Beaver

[ Sewellels  Aplodontidae]

This one single species is considered  to be the most primitive rodent living today,  earning it the dreaded “living fossil” label. This basically means its present features have remained largely unchanged for millions of years.

The name Mountain Beaver just does not accurately describe the Mountain beaver because one its not a beaver and it lives in areas not restricted to mountains. The mountain beaver species of western North America possess some seriously weird teeth. Their teeth are thick and deep, providing the extra toughness necessary to eat hard, gritty plants.  The mountain beavers have hypsodonty, meaning their teeth are high crowned and extend way past the gum line. This, along with the extra thickness of the teeth, provides a lot of room for extra wear and tear.  The mountain beavers don’t need those teeth now, but they did about 10 to 15 million years ago, which is when these teeth features first appear in the fossil record.

Trapping The Mountain Beaver : Lethal Control

Because mountain beavers are territorial, removing them from an area may appear to solve the problem. However, other mountain beavers will eventually enter the area if attractive habitat is available.

Long-term control is possible by first reducing or eliminating the mountain beaver population by trapping, and then continuing with a maintenance-trapping program to remove invading animals as they become evident.

Mountain beavers can be trapped anytime, but for best results and for humane reasons it is best to concentrate the effort in late winter, before they give birth.

A wildlife damage control company can be hired to do the trapping, or you can do it yourself . Never attempt to handle trapped or wild mountain beavers. They are capable of producing a very bad bite and have very sharp claws. Mountain beavers are a menace to Forestry and new tree seedlings.

Mountain Beavers will burrow and dig holes . Mountain beaver trappers set #110 Conibear traps throughout the active burrows and runways, usually setting 3-4 traps per den. This will reduce the mountain beaver population if done correctly.

The name Sewellels better describes this species because they  best describe this species as mammals that eat plants that are either poisonous or unpalatable to other mammal species such as fir, ferns, rhododendron. One interesting characteristic of this species is their ability to extract additional nutrition from a plant by ingesting their own soft fecal pellets.

They can be found at sea level up to about 6,000 feet altitude (2,000 m)

They prefer moist forested areas, thickets, or clear cut areas  with lots of dense vegetation usually on sloping ground near water.  This species is a burrowing animal and creates some very extensive tunnel systems. The burrow entrances are marked with large piles of dirt that re about 6 inches  or 15 cm in diameter.

This species lives in small family groups and most active nearest  early morning  or late afternoon. Litter sizes are as small as 3 and as large as 8 young but normally 4 0r 5 young.

More on my blog ! http://www.skinnymoose.com/wildlifepro/2012/01/03/trapping-the-mountain-beaver/

A mountain beaver is bigger then a mole and smaller then a beaver ! Photo Courtesy A. Brown Astoria, Oregon

Photo Credits This Page And By Permission From Adam Brown, Astoria, Clatsop County Oregon