Canadian beaver vs

Castor canadensis compared with Chroococcus minimus

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Canadian beaver
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Bacteria (Bacteria)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Cyanobacteria (Cyanobacteria)
Class	Mammalia (Mammals)	Cyanobacteriia
Order	Rodentia (Rodents)	Cyanobacteriales
Family	Castoridae (Beavers)	Microcystaceae
Genus	Castor (Beavers)	Chroococcus
Species	Castor canadensis	Chroococcus minimus

Conservation Status

Canadian beaver

NE — Not Evaluated

Population: ~15.0M

Trend: Stable →

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Canadian beaver
Diet	Herbivore	—
Average Lifespan	15 years	—
Average Length	1.0 m	—
Average Weight	25.0 kg	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Canadian beaver

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, forests, and vegetated habitats.

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (15 countries), North America (United States), and South America (Argentina, Chile).

Habitat

Native to Asia and Europe, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Distributed across Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Taiwan.

Canadian beaver

The largest rodent in North America, Canadian beavers weigh up to 32 kg and are master ecosystem engineers inhabiting rivers, lakes, and wetlands across Canada and the northern United States. By felling trees and constructing dams up to hundreds of meters long, beavers create ponds that provide habitat for hundreds of species. Their lodges and canals transform entire watersheds. Once nearly hunted to extinction for their fur, beaver populations have recovered strongly.

Chroococcus minimus is a species of cyanobacteria in the family Chroococcaceae, representing one of the smaller-celled members of the genus, as the specific epithet indicates. Chroococcus is a cosmopolitan cyanobacterial genus found across a wide range of aquatic and moist terrestrial habitats globally. The cells of Chroococcus minimus are spherical, very small in diameter, and occur in pairs or tetrads enclosed within a thin, often inconspicuous mucilaginous sheath. Despite their miniature scale, these organisms are photosynthetically active and contribute to primary production in their aquatic environments. Small-celled cyanobacteria like Chroococcus minimus may dominate the picoplankton fraction of oligotrophic freshwater bodies, where their small cell volume provides a favorable surface area to volume ratio for nutrient uptake in nutrient-limited conditions. Chroococcus minimus has been documented from freshwater habitats in Europe and elsewhere. Identification of small-celled Chroococcus species is challenging due to overlapping morphological characteristics and the influence of environmental conditions on cell dimensions. Molecular phylogenetic studies have substantially revised the taxonomy of coccoid cyanobacteria. The species has not been assessed by the IUCN.