Castoroides ohioensis
Also known as a giant beaver.
By Kirsten F. T-1
Her Life
Castoroides ohioensis, also known as the giant beaver lived up to its name. Casandrea looked like a normal beaver… but MUCH bigger. She was about eight feet long and three feet wide. She weighed about 200 pounds and had a tail about two feet long, which was very narrow. The Castoroides had 15 cm long front teeth. She was one of the biggest species of beaver ever.
Casandrea was a great swimmer. She lived in a low marshy area near small bodies of water such as lakes or ponds. Her favorite food was soft, marshy grass. Archaeologist have only found Castoroides remains in North America. Her family lived on Earth from around 2.6 million years to 11,700 years ago. Castoroides lived in the Cenozoic Era and Quaternary Period.
The reason her whole species went extinct was probably because the changing climate at the end of the ice age made them not be able to build dams and they could not spread out overland due to drainage and drought. A close relative of her was the Trogontherium, another type of giant beaver. They lived in Europe and Asia. Casandrea died of old age in the loving paws of her family in her dam.
Casandreas skeleton in a museum.
Castoroides compared to a modern day beaver.
Casandrea's body exhibited in the Kenosha Public Meseum.
The Funeral of Casandrea
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2014, 09:00 PM
New York, NY, United States
Work Cited
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