Palaeocastor
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Palaeocastor ('prehistoric beaver') is an extinct genus of beaver that lived in the North American Badlands during the late Oligocene period. It generically resembles a modern day beaver, save for a small horn-like protuberance at the top of the skull.
[edit] Habitat
This creature made corkscrew-shaped burrows and tunnels. Like many early castorids, Palaeocastor was predominantly a burrowing animal instead of an aquatic animal. Fossil evidence suggests that they may have lived in family groups like modern beavers and employed a k reproductive strategy instead of the normal r-strategy of most rodents.
Their fossilized burrows, known as ichnotaxon Daemonelix (from the vernacular name devil's corkscrews), came first to the notice of science through Dr. E.H. Barbour of the University of Nebraska around Harrison, Nebraska, in 1891.[1] They baffled scientists until a fossil beaver was discovered in one of them. Previously, they were believed to be the fossil roots of a plant.
They excavated their burrows with their incisors, not their claws.[2]
[edit] Cultural Reference
This particular genus of beaver made an appearance in the film Ice Age: The Meltdown.
