Differences From North American Beaver
Although the Eurasian beaver appears superficially similar to the North American beaver, there are several important differences between the two species.
Aside from being the larger of the two species, the Eurasian beaver has the following anatomical differences to North American beaver: it has a larger, less rounded head; a longer, narrower muzzle; a narrower, less oval-shaped tail; shorter shin bones, making it less capable of bipedal locomotion than the North American species. The Eurasian beaver also has longer nasal bones, with the widest point being at the end of the snout; in the case of the North American beaver, the widest point is at the middle of the snout. The Eurasian beaver has a triangular nasal opening, unlike those of the North American beavers, which are square. Furthermore, the foramen magnum is rounded in the Eurasian beaver, but triangular in the North American beaver. The anal glands of the Eurasian beaver are larger, and thin-walled, with a large internal volume, relative to that of the North American beaver. The guard hairs of the Eurasian beaver have longer hollow medullas at their tips. There is also a difference in fur colour: overall, 66% of Eurasian beavers have beige or pale brown fur, 20% have reddish brown, nearly 8% are brown, and only 4% have blackish coats; in North American beavers, 50% have pale brown fur, 25% are reddish brown, 20% are brown, and 6% are blackish.
The two species are not genetically compatible. The North American beaver has 40 chromosomes, while the Eurasian beaver has 48. After more than 27 attempts, made in Russia, to hybridize the two species, the result was one stillborn kit from bred from the pairing of a male North American beaver and a female Eurasian beaver. The aforementioned factor makes interspecific breeding unlikely in areas where the two species' ranges overlap.
Read more about this topic: Eurasian Beaver
Famous quotes containing the words differences, north, american and/or beaver:
“When was it that the particles became
The whole man, that tempers and beliefs became
Temper and belief and that differences lost
Difference and were one? It had to be
In the presence of a solitude of the self....”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“The recent attempt to secure a charter from the State of North Dakota for a lottery company, the pending effort to obtain from the State of Louisiana a renewal of the charter of the Louisiana State Lottery, and the establishment of one or more lottery companies at Mexican towns near our border, have served the good purpose of calling public attention to an evil of vast proportions.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“There is a constant in the average American imagination and taste, for which the past must be preserved and celebrated in full-scale authentic copy; a philosophy of immortality as duplication. It dominates the relation with the self, with the past, not infrequently with the present, always with History and, even, with the European tradition.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)
“This ferry was as busy as a beaver dam, and all the world seemed anxious to get across the Merrimack River at this particular point, waiting to get set over,—children with their two cents done up in paper, jail-birds broke lose and constable with warrant, travelers from distant lands to distant lands, men and women to whom the Merrimack River was a bar.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)