Mountain beaver
Aplodontia rufa (Rafinesque, 1817)
Status not recordedrodents
The mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa) is a living rodent in the family Aplodontiidae, suborder Sciuromorpha, order Rodentia, and is also called showte, boomer, gehalis, sewellel and showhurll. It is a terrestrial, cathemeral herbivore of forest habitats whose main food is fern.
Quick facts about the mountain beaver
It falls in the medium size class, with a representative adult body mass of 1.004 kg. Gestation lasts from 28 to 30 days, with one litter per year of 2.8 young, and sexual maturity comes at 2.1 years.
- Weight
- 706.8 g – 1 kgsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- 6 years – 10 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- fernsrc for Main food
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 28 days – 30 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 2.8src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 2.11 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the mountain beaver
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the mountain beaver live?
Not recorded
What is the mountain beaver?
The mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa) or sewellel is a North American rodent. It is the only living member of its genus, Aplodontia, and family, Aplodontiidae. It should not be confused with true North American and Eurasian beavers, to which it is not closely related; the mountain beaver is instead more closely related to squirrels. There are seven subspecies of mountain beaver, six of which are found in California and three of which are endemic to the state.
From the Wikipedia article “Mountain beaver” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mountain_beaver&oldid=1383961355), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the mountain beaver endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the mountain beaver classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderRodentia
- familyAplodontiidae
- genusAplodontia
- SpeciesAplodontia rufa (Rafinesque, 1817)
Synonyms Anisonyx rufa
Other names and names in other languages (27)
- AplodontiaEnglish
- BoomerEnglish
- GehalisEnglish
- Giant moleEnglish
- Ground bearEnglish
- Mountain BoomerEnglish
- Point Arena mountain beaverEnglish
- SewellelEnglish
- SewellelEnglish
- ShowhurllEnglish
- ShowteEnglish
- قندس الجبلArabic
- BergbiberGerman
- BiberhörnchenGerman
- StummelschwanzhörnchenGerman
- Castor de montañaSpanish
- murrikkaFinnish
- castor de montagneFrench
- Castoro di montagnaItalian
- ヤマビーバーJapanese
- BeverekornNorwegian Bokmål
- StompstaarteekhoornDutch
- Sewel górskiPolish
- Castor-das-montanhasPortuguese
- АплодонтияRussian
- บีเวอร์ภูเขาThai
- AplodontTurkish
Relatives of the mountain beaver
Other species in the same family Aplodontiidae.
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the mountain beaver?
The mountain beaver is a mammal, a rodent in the family Aplodontiidae and suborder Sciuromorpha.
What does the mountain beaver eat?
The mountain beaver is a herbivore, and its main food is fern.
How heavy is a mountain beaver?
A representative adult mountain beaver weighs 1.004 kg, and the lowest adult body mass reported is 706.8 g.
How long does a mountain beaver live?
The mountain beaver has a lifespan of 6 years, with values up to 10 years reported.
How many young does a mountain beaver have?
The mountain beaver has 2.8 young per litter and one litter per year, after a gestation of 28 to 30 days.
What habitat does the mountain beaver live in?
The mountain beaver lives in forest habitats and is terrestrial.
What are other names for the mountain beaver?
Other English names for the mountain beaver are showte, boomer, gehalis, sewellel and showhurll.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/mountain-beaver
“Mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/mountain-beaver.
@misc{mountain_beaver_2026,
title = {Mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/mountain-beaver},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}