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Giant Beaver Palaeoecology Inferred From Stable Isotopes, Tessa Plint, Fred J. Longstaffe, Grant Zazula

Earth Sciences Publications

This is a multi-individual (n = 11), stable carbon and nitrogen isotope study of bone collagen (δ¹³C_col and δ¹⁵N_col) from the giant beaver (genus Castoroides). The now-extinct giant beaver was once one of the most widespread Pleistocene megafauna in North America. We confirm that Castoroides consumed a diet of predominantly submerged aquatic macrophytes. These dietary preferences rendered the giant beaver highly dependent on wetland habitat for survival. Castoroides’ δ¹³C_col and δ¹⁵N_col do not support the hypothesis that the giant beaver consumed trees or woody …