After 500 Years, the Beaver Is Back in Portugal and Ready to Give a Dam

After 500 Years, the Beaver Is Back in Portugal and Ready to Give a Dam

After 500 Years, the Beaver Is Back in Portugal and Ready to Give a Dam A young beaver entering Portugal from Spain – courtesy Rewilding Portugal For the first time in 500 years, the European beaver has been seen in Portugal, a moment that one nonprofit has called “one of the most significant steps in the aquatic rewilding of Portuguese rivers.” As GNN has reported in the case of the UK, there is no animal other than humans capable of engineering its natural environment at the same scale as the beaver, and it’s clearly this trait which has Portuguese ecologists jumping for joy. Extinct in the small Iberian country since the 15th century, this large rodent has recently been reintroduced and restored in various parts of Portugal’s large neighbor. Gradually, signs began to appear that the beaver ( Castor fibre)  was progressively inching closer to Portugal, until recent camera trap footage confirmed the animal’s presence in the country. “We’ve been on the lookout for this breakthrough for a few…