Giant Beaver
The giant beaver (Castoroides ohioensis) is an extinct rodent that lived in North America between 1.4 million and 10,000 years ago. It was a distant cousin to modern beavers,
but in many ways may have been more similar to modern capybaras. The giant beaver was one of the largest rodents ever to roam the Earth, and one of approximately 30 extinct genera of beavers. Only two beaver species survive today: the North American
beaver and the Eurasian beaver. The giant beaver received its scientific name after remains were found in 1837 in Ohio. In Canada, giant beaver fossils have been found on Indian Island, New Brunswick;
in
Toronto and near Highgate, Ontario; and in Old Crow Basin, Yukon.
They live on in the oral history of many Indigenous peoples, including the Innu, Seneca,
eastern
Cree, Chippewa and Vuntut Gwitchin.