AnAge entry for Castor canadensis
Classification (HAGRID: 02855)
- Taxonomy
-
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
Order: Rodentia
Family: Castoridae
Genus: Castor
- Species
- Castor canadensis
- Common name
- American beaver
- Synonyms
- Castor caecator, Castor canadensis phaeus, Castor canadensis acadicus, Castor canadensis baileyi, Castor canadensis belugae, Castor canadensis caecator, Castor canadensis canadensis, Castor canadensis carolinensis, Castor canadensis concisor, Castor canadensis duchesnei, Castor canadensis frondator, Castor canadensis idoneus, Castor canadensis labradorensis, Castor canadensis leucodontus, Castor canadensis mexicanus, Castor canadensis michiganensis, Castor canadensis missouriensis, Castor canadensis pallidus, Castor canadensis repentinus, Castor canadensis rostralis, Castor canadensis sagittatus, Castor subauratus shastensis, Castor subauratus subauratus, Castor canadensis taylori, Castor canadensis texensis
Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits
- Maximum longevity
- 23.4 years (captivity)
- Source
- ref. 671
- Sample size
- Small
- Data quality
- Acceptable
- Observations
It has been suggested that beavers may live as much as 50 years [0434], which is doubtful. One captive specimen was still alive after 23.4 years [0671].
A study comparing rodent species has found that maximum longevity is associated with smaller rates of protein turnover. Animals of this long-lived species may have evolved towards reducing the energetic cost of continuous protein turnover, which in turn would lessen the quantity and the damage caused by reactive oxygen species produced in this process [1334].
Life history traits (averages)
- Female sexual maturity
- 639 days
- Male sexual maturity
- 639 days
- Gestation
- 128 days
- Weaning
- Litter size
- 3.5 (viviparous)
- Litters per year
- 1
- Inter-litter interval
- 365 days
- Weight at birth
- 430 g
- Weight at weaning
- Adult weight
- 20,250 g
- Postnatal growth rate
- Maximum longevity residual
- 105%
Metabolism
No information on metabolism is available.
References
- [1334] Swovick et al. (2018), Cross-species Comparison of Proteome Turnover Kinetics (PubMed)
- [1136] Gomes et al. (2011), Comparative biology of mammalian telomeres: hypotheses on ancestral states and the roles of telomeres in longevity determination (PubMed)
- [0776] Seluanov et al. (2007), Telomerase activity coevolves with body mass not lifespan (PubMed)
- [0777] Harper et al. (2007), Skin-derived fibroblasts from long-lived species are resistant to some, but not all, lethal stresses and to the mitochondrial inhibitor rotenone (PubMed)
- [0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
- [0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
- [0441] William Burt et al. (1998), A Field Guide to Mammals
- [0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
- [0511] Ronald Nowak and John Paradiso (1983), Walker's Mammals of the World
External Resources
- Integrated Taxonomic Information System
- ITIS 180212
- Animal Diversity Web
- ADW account
- Encyclopaedia of Life
- Search EOL
- NCBI Taxonomy
- Taxonomy ID 51338
- Entrez
- Search all databases
- Ageing Literature
- Search Google Scholar or Search PubMed
- Images
- Google Image search
- Internet
- Search Google