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08/30/2005: "and you all thought Mega Beaver was a joke!"
Mega Beaver
At 8 feet long and nearly 450 pounds, the ridge-toothed giant beaver must have dominated North American marshlands for millennia until 10,000 years ago, when it suddenly disappeared. Like its modern-day cousin, the giant beaver was a herbivore, using its pronounced teeth to slice through rough vegetation. But while the giant beaver spent much of its time in the water, it did not build dams. (Modern beavers use dams in part to create water depths around their dens as protection from predators; for much of its existence, at least, the giant beaver would not have had that concern.) Evidence of the giant beaver ranges from Florida to northern Canada.