Evolution of woodcutting behaviour in Early Pliocene beaver driven by consumption of woody plants

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Plint, Tessa, Longstaffe, Fred J., Ballantyne, Ashley, Telka, Alice, Rybczynski, Natalia
• Other Authors: Canada Research Chairs, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Ontario Research Fund, Canadian Museum of Nature, National Geographic Exploration Grant, Scientific Research Grant
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2020
• Subjects: Multidisciplinary; Arctic; Beaver Pond; Ellesmere Island
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70164-1; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70164-1.pdf; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-70164-1

Abstract Modern beavers ( Castor ) are prolific ecosystem engineers and dramatically alter the landscape through tree harvesting and dam building. Little is known, however, about the evolutionary drivers of their woodcutting behaviour. Here we investigate if early woodcutting behaviour in Castoridae...