Norwegian Beaver Project (NBP)

Beaver kiss
Beaver portret

We use beavers as model species to study animal behaviour and ecology in mammals. The beaver project is a long-term project that started back in 1996. Our aim is to understand the factors affecting an individual’s behavior and fitness, how such individual effects can explain population fitness, and how these patterns can be used for the management and conservation of animal populations in a human-dominated landscape with a changing climate.

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The NBP is one of the world’s largest and longest ongoing large rodent projects (1996- today), with a very high scientific output in international peer-reviewed journals (see e.g., Frank Rosell). An individual-based long-term data set of >500 captured beavers, biometric measurements (>100 individuals) as well as genetic and chemical samples from >1600 captures form the basis of the NBP. The NBP is unique in Europe, as it is one of very few projects carrying out behavioral experiments with large wild mammals.

Schematic overview of the central research disciplines of the beaver project

Participants