European Beaver
The European Beaver (Castor fiber) was hunted almost to extinction in Europe, both for fur and for castoreum, a secretion of its scent gland believed to have medicinal properties. However, the beaver is now being re-introduced throughout Europe. Several thousand live on the Elbe, the Rhone and in parts of Scandinavia. A thriving community lives in northeast Poland, and the European Beaver also returned to the Morava River banks in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. They have been reintroduced in Scotland,[5] Bavaria, Austria, The Netherlands, Serbia (Zasavica bog), Denmark (West Jutland) and Bulgaria and are spreading to new locations. The beaver became extinct in Great Britain in the sixteenth century: Giraldus Cambrensis reported in 1188 (Itinerarium ii.iii) that it was to be found only in the Teifi in Wales and in one river in Scotland, though his observations are clearly second hand. In October 2005, six European beavers were reintroduced to Britain in Lower Mill Estate in Gloucestershire; in July 2007 a colony of four European beavers was established at Martin Mere in Lancashire,[6] and a trial re-introduction occurred in Scotland in May 2009. Feasibility studies for a reintroduction to Wales are at an advanced stage and a preliminary study for a reintroduction of beavers to the wild in England has recently been published.[7][8]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zasavica_(bog)
The Zasavica (Serbian Cyrillic: Засавица) is a bog in the region of Mačva, west-central Serbia. With Obedska bara and Carska Bara one of the major wildlife refuges and one of the last authentically preserved wetlands in Serbia. In the 2000s became a popular attracton with the successful reintroduction of the beavers, which became extinct hundred years ago.
| Location | Mačva region, Vojvodina province (partially) |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 44°34′N 19°18′E / 44.57°N 19.30°E |
| Lake type | marsh |
| Primary inflows | Zasavica River |
| Primary outflows | Zasavica River |
| Basin countries | Serbia |
Beavers
The main attraction in the reservation are the reintroduced beavers. Extinct in the early 1900s, four families with five members each, plus 11 single animals (31 in total) were reintroduced in 2004 with the help from the Bavarian Science Society. From Serbian side, project is conducted by the Biology Faculty of the Belgrade University. Each animal has a subdermal tracking microchip implant. [3] Initial fears that the beavers will not adapt proved to be groundless as very soon first dam was spotted and the animals began to reproduce. A dam is 30 metres (33 yd) long and 1.8 feet (0.55 m) tall (of that, 0.8 metres (2.6 ft) above the water) and located at the Batar's mouth into Zasavica. In the late 2006 a dam in the canal Glušci, which flows into the Zasavica, was discovered and the beavers, though not the dams, are spotted in the river of Jadar some 35 kilometres (22 mi) to the south down the Drina. As the area surrounding the Zasavica is entirely agricultural, farmers don’t share the excitement of the biologists as they claim the beavers ruin their crops saying that was the original reason for their extinction a hundred years ago [7]
| University of Belgrade | |
|---|---|
| Универзитет у Београду Univerzitet u Beogradu |
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