Castoreum may be "beaver butt" to the Food Babe, but the castoreum used in flavorings and perfumes never exits through the anus.
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The same notes kept popping up: castoreum, civet, musk, ambergris.
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But castoreum is so expensive, at up to $70 per pound of anal gland (the cost to humanely milk castoreum from a beaver is likely even higher), that it's unlikely to show up in anything you eat.
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In the 1980s, the use of castoreum in flavors began to lag.
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In some cases, genuine castoreum was probably replaced with cheaper synthetic chemicals.
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Beavers are ferociously territorial, and castoreum is how they mark their territory.
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Using and appreciating castoreum, he says, is a way of honoring beavers.
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No, castoreum is not a cheap substitute for strawberries; it's a luxe, artisanal material.
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Roman women inhaled the fumes of smoldering castoreum in an attempt to induce abortions.
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The American beaver trade brought castoreum back into the spotlight, this time as a perfume.
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But the biggest problem with castoreum was not its price, nor its anal-adjacent origins.
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I get how the anal adjacency of these glandular secretions makes castoreum repulsive to many people.
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Castoreum could be found in beverages, baked goods, ice cream, candy, and especially in chewing gum.
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She had never worked with castoreum before, and so she sampled the flavor with and without it.
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I pour myself a glass of Eau de Musc and try to taste the castoreum in it.
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While Hari is correct that castoreum is classified as a natural flavor, she's wrong about basically everything else.
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So when I heard there was a new bourbon flavored with castoreum, I knew I had to try it.
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Francis Bacon, the 5003th-century English polymath, recommended snorting a bit of powdered castoreum as a cure for brain-fog.
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In this way, castoreum is a quintessential secret ingredient, something that made a flavor better and more interesting, while eluding recognition.
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If food companies wanted to earn the rabbinical seal of approval, any traces of castoreum in flavorings had to be nixed.
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In 2011, the Vegetarian Resource Group wrote to five major companies that produce vanilla flavoring and asked if they use castoreum.
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To a beaver, castoreum is a complex chemical stew, one that advertises a beaver's clan and tells non-relatives to keep out.
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You've probably heard that a secretion called castoreum, isolated from the anal gland of a beaver, is used in flavorings and perfumes.
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Mostly, humans hunted the beaver for its the pelts, meat and castoreum, a secretion from glands near their butts used as food flavoring.
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Castoreum began to be used in flavorings in the early 20th century, an era when flavor-makers were borrowing freely from perfumers' toolkits.
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There is a traditional castoreum-flavored spirit: Bäverhojt, a schnapps typically consumed by Swedish trappers before heading out for a day hunting game.
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Decades ago, you may have caught a whiff of castoreum in fancy store-bought vanilla ice cream, or tarting up some raspberry-flavored chocolate bon-bons.
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"It's far cheaper to use castoreum, or beaver's butt, to flavor strawberry oatmeal than using actual strawberries," she claims, without providing any numbers to support this assertion.
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Their Eau de Musc, released this summer, is a bourbon flavored with castoreum along with regional White Mountain botanicals: fir tips, sweet birch, wild ginger, Canadian snakeroot.
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They build muddy mounds "about the size of an upside-down cocktail glass," Kaska told me, back up to them, and squirt castoreum from out their glorious, multipurpose buttholes.
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The castoreum mellows as the castors are dried, but it remains potent: The entire 500-bottle batch of Eau de Musc was flavored with the castors from a single beaver.
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This means I've witnessed firsthand the weird obsession some people have with castoreum, a beaver-gland-derived flavor ingredient, and the notion that we are all unwittingly eating beaver butt juice.
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In 1982, according to the Flavor Extract Manufacturers' Association (FEMA), 683 pounds of castoreum were used in flavorings in the US. In 1987, that had dropped to just under 250 pounds.
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Animalis, in its original form, was an unctuous golden liquid comprised civet, castoreum, costus and musk, and smelled a bit like body odor, dirty scalp, perspiration, butter and a horse stable.
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The Algonquins traditionally dusted their tobacco with dried castoreum, and, in the 20th century, so did cigarette manufacturers like Phillip Morris and RJ Reynolds; it gave Camels and Winstons a distinguished, luxe aroma.
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To some, it had a distinct whiff of castoreum, the secretion from a gland close to the anus of beavers, which is still sometimes used in commercial ice cream as a substitute for vanilla and raspberry.
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According to nature writer Ben Goldfarb, author of Eager: The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, the demand for castoreum wiped out most of the beavers in Europe by the end of the Middle Ages.
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Castoreum—a classy, antique-sounding word, jazzed up by its neat near-rhyme with "santorum"—stands in for all of the bizarre, filthy, and perverse things that "they," the corporate monsters of processed snacks, are doing to your food.
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Saffron, mushrooms, cranberry absolute, tarragon, petrified rock-badger poop, partially crystallized sarsaparilla, castoreum (a beaver secretion), roasted seashells, orris butter (''it can go toward old lady in a hot second''), something that smelled like the reptile room at the Bronx Zoo.
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Tamworth Distilling, makers of Art in the Age spirits and other heritage-hipster libations, were inspired to make a spirit with castoreum when they noticed it on the GRAS list, the tally of "generally regarded as safe" ingredients the FDA allows in food.
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Castoreum Castoreum is a yellowish exudate from the castor sacs of mature beavers. Beavers use castoreum in combination with urine to scent mark their territory.Walro, J.M. and Svendsen, G.E., "Castor sacs and anal glands of the North American beaver (Castor canadensis): their histology, development, and relationship to scent communication" Journal of Chemical Ecology, Volume 8, Number 5 / May 1982, Department of Zoology and Microbiology, Ohio University,Müller-Schwarze, Dietland (1992). "Castoreum of beaver (Castor canadensis): function, chemistry and biological activity of its components" Chemical Signals in Vertebrates IV, 457–464, Plenum Press.
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In addition to furs, Barclay also received livestock and castoreum glands in trade.
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In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration lists castoreum extract as a generally recognized as safe (GRAS) food additive. In 1965, the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association's GRAS program (FEMA 2261 and 2262) added castoreum extract and castoreum liquid.Recent Progress In the Consideration Under of Flavoring Ingredients the Food Additives Amendment (1965) The annual industry consumption is very low, around 300 pounds,Burdock, George A., Fenaroli's handbook of flavor ingredients. CRC Press, 2010. p. 273-5.
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An extraction of castoreum, the scent glands from the male and female beaver are used in perfumery and as a flavor ingredient.
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3-Hydroxyacetophenone is a chemical compound. It is a component of castoreum, the exudate from the castor sacs of the mature beaver.
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Nupharamine is an alkaloid found in Nuphar japonica and in castoreum. Nuphar japonica contains nupharamine, and methyl and ethyl esters of nupharamine.
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Beavers are considered to be keystone species, and their infrastructure creates wetlands that are used by many other species. Adult males and females live in monogamous pairs with their kits and yearlings. Beavers are highly territorial and mark them using scent mounts made of mud, debris and castoreum, a urine based substance excreted through the beaver's castor sacs. Beavers have historically been hunted for their fur, meat and castoreum.
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It is underlined by the sweet woody base note containing sandalwood, cedarwood, myrrh, opopanax, labdanum, benzoin and castoreum, in addition to amber, incense, musk, patchouli, tolu and vetiver.
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Eurasian badgers respond less aggressively to the scent of familiar conspecifics than unfamiliar Territorial Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber) presented with a two-way choice sniffed both castoreum and anal gland secretion from a stranger longer than from a neighbour. Furthermore, beavers responded aggressively — standing on the mound on their hind feet, pawing and/or overmarking — longer to castoreum, but not to anal gland secretion, from a stranger than from a neighbour. When the mounds containing the scents were allowed to remain overnight and the beavers' responses measured the following morning, the beavers' responses were stronger to both castoreum and anal gland secretion from a stranger than from a neighbour.Rosell, F. and Bjørkøyli, T. (2002).
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It also contains nupharamine alkaloidsStereoselective synthesis of enantiomerically pure nupharamine alkaloids from castoreum. Stoye A, Quandt G, Brunnhöfer B, Kapatsina E, Baron J, Fischer A, Weymann M and Kunz H, Angew Chem Int Ed Engl., 2009, volume 48, issue 12, pages 2228–2230, and castoramine,Zur Kenntnis der stickstoffhaltigen Inhaltsstoffe von Castoreum. B. Maurer and G. Ohloff, Helvetica Chimica Acta, 2 June 1976, Volume 59, Issue 4, pages 1169–1185, and cis-cyclohexane-1,2-diol.
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Dipterocarpaceae, Blumea balsamifera and Kaempferia galanga. It is one of the chemical compounds found in castoreum. This compound is gathered from the beaver's plant food.The Beaver: Its Life and Impact.
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Acetophenone occurs naturally in many foods including apple, cheese, apricot, banana, beef, and cauliflower. It is also a component of castoreum, the exudate from the castor sacs of the mature beaver.
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Svendsen, G.E., Huntsman, W.D, " A field Assay of Beaver Castoreum and Some of its Components" American Midland Naturalist, Vol. 120, No. 1 (Jul., 1988), pp. 144–149, University of Notre Dame.
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Castoreum is a genus of truffle-like fungi in the Mesophelliaceae family. The genus, circumscribed by English mycologists Mordecai Cubitt Cooke and George Edward Massee in 1887, contains three species found in Australia.
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A Eurasian beaver in Norway The Eurasian beaver is the target of several species reintroduction programs in Europe. Historically, beavers have been trapped and hunted for their meat, fur and castoreum, to the point of near extinction.
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Acetanisole is an aromatic chemical compound with an aroma described as sweet, fruity, nutty, and similar to vanilla. In addition Acetanisole can sometimes smell like butter or caramel. Acetanisole is found naturally in castoreum, the glandular secretion of the beaver.
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Cyclohexane-1,2-diol is a chemical compound found in castoreum. It can exist in either cis- or trans-isomers. The enzyme cyclohexane-1,2-diol dehydrogenase uses trans-cyclohexane-1,2-diol and NAD+ to produce 2-hydroxycyclohexan-1-one, NADH and H+.
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Hydroquinone has been shown to be one of the chemical constituents of the natural product propolis. It is also one of the chemical compounds found in castoreum. This compound is gathered from the beaver's castor sacs.The Beaver: Its Life and Impact.
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A fixative is used to equalize the vapor pressures, and thus the volatilities, of the raw materials in a perfume oil, as well as to increase the tenacity. Natural fixatives are resinoids (benzoin, labdanum, myrrh, olibanum, storax, tolu balsam) and animal products (ambergris, castoreum, musk, and civetNew Perfume Fixatives - Chemical & Engineering News Archive / Chem. Eng. News, 1941, 19 (20), p 1134 "perfume fixatives, ...the four traditionally used by perfumers—musk, civet, ambergris, and castoreum."). Synthetic fixatives include substances of low volatility (diphenylmethane, cyclopentadecanolide, ambroxide, benzyl salicylate) and virtually odorless solvents with very low vapor pressures (benzyl benzoate, diethyl phthalate, triethyl citrate).
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Benzyl alcohol is produced naturally by many plants and is commonly found in fruits and teas. It is also found in a variety of essential oils including jasmine, hyacinth and ylang-ylang. It is also found in castoreum from the castor sacs of beavers.
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At least 24 compounds are known constituents of beaver castoreum. Several of these have pheromonal activity, of which the phenols 4-ethylphenol and catechol and the ketones acetophenone and 3-hydroxyacetophenone were strongest. Five additional compounds elicit a weaker response: 4-methylcatechol, 4-methoxyacetophenone, 5-methoxysalicylic acid, salicylaldehyde, and 3-hydroxybenzoic acid.Pheromonal activity of single castoreum constituents in beaver, Castor canadensis., Müller-Schwarze, D and Houlihan, P.W., Journal of Chemical Ecology, April 1991, Volume 17, Number 4, Springer Netherlands, There are also oxygen-containing monoterpenes such as 6-methyl-l-heptanol, 4,6-dimethyl-l-heptanol, isopinocamphone, pinocamphone, and two linalool oxides and their acetates.
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There are significant differences between strains of Brettanomyces in their ability to produce 4-EP. 4-EP is also a component of castoreum, the exudate from the castor sacs of the mature North American beaver (Castor canadensis) and the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber), used in perfumery.
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In 1875 Salkowski discovered the antifungal abilities of benzoic acid, which was used for a long time in the preservation of benzoate-containing cloudberry fruits. It is also one of the chemical compounds found in castoreum. This compound is gathered from the castor sacs of the North American beaver.
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5-Methoxysalicylic acid is a chemical compound. It is a component of castoreum, the exudate from the castor sacs of the mature beaver. A mixture of 5-methoxysalicylic acid and spermine can be used as a matrix for oligonucleotides analysis in MALDI mass spectrometry. It is an isomer of vanillic acid.
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Resinous plant exudates (balsams, oleo gum resins, and natural oleoresins) and animal secretions (ambergris, castoreum, musk, and civet) are extracted with solvents such as methanol, ethanol, toluene, or acetone. Yields range from 50 to 95%. The products mainly consist of nonvolatile, resinous compounds. They are usually highly viscous and are sometimes diluted (e.g.
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3-Hydroxybenzoic acid is a component of castoreum, the exudate from the castor sacs of the mature North American beaver (Castor canadensis) and the European beaver (Castor fiber), used in perfumery. It can also be formed by a Pseudomonas species from 3-Chlorobenzoic acid. 3-Hydroxybenzoic Acid can be found in the pineapple fruit as well.
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Neutral compounds from male castoreum of North American beaver, Castor canadensis. Rong Tang, Francis X. Webster, Dietland Müller-Schwarze, Journal of Chemical Ecology, November 1995, Volume 21, Issue 11, pages 1745–1762, Other compounds are: benzoic acid, benzyl alcohol, borneol, o-cresol, 4-(4'-hydroxyphenyl)-2-butanone, hydroquinone, phenol. All those compounds are gathered from plant food.
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Phenol is a normal metabolic product, excreted in quantities up to 40 mg/L in human urine. The temporal gland secretion of male elephants showed the presence of phenol and 4-methylphenol during musth.Musth in elephants. Deepa Ananth, Zoo's print journal, 15(5), pages 259-262 (article) It is also one of the chemical compounds found in castoreum.
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In Switzerland, the Eurasian beaver was extirpated in the early 19th century due to hunting for its fur, meat and castoreum. Between 1956 and 1977, 141 individuals were reintroduced to 30 sites in the Rhone and Rhine catchment areas. They originated in France, Russia and Norway. Beavers were reintroduced in the Netherlands in 1988 after being completely exterminated in the 19th century.
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Salicin is an alcoholic β-glucoside. Salicin is produced in (and named after) willow (Salix) bark and acts as an anti-inflammatory agent in the human body. Salicin is also commonly found in the bark of Populus species, and the leaves of willows and poplars. It is also found in castoreum, which was used as an analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic.
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A beaver atop its dam. Beavers maintain and defend territories which contain the dams, canals, trails and food caches while the outside feeding areas are encompassed within a home range. They invest much energy in their territories, building their dams and becoming familiar with the area. Beavers mark their territories by constructing scent mounts made of mud, debris and castoreum.
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Salicylaldehyde was identified as a characteristic aroma component of buckwheat. It is also one of the components of castoreum, the exudate from the castor sacs of the mature North American beaver (Castor canadensis) and the European beaver (Castor fiber), used in perfumery. Furthermore, salicylaldehyde occurs in the larval defensive secretions of several leaf beetle species that belong the subtribe Chrysomelina.Pauls, G., Becker, T., et al. (2016).
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The name probably comes from a confusion between the Ricinus plant that produces it and another plant, the Vitex agnus-castus.Irene Jacob, "Ricinus Communis — The Miracle Tree through Four Thousand Years", The Healing Past: Pharmaceuticals in the Biblical and Rabbinic World, ed. Irene and Walter Jacob (Brill, 1993), 81-93. However, an alternative etymology suggests that it was used as a replacement for castoreum.
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However, the activity of the enzyme increases in cooler temperatures. Benzoquinone is said to be antimicrobial, a property that slows the spoilage of damaged fruits and other plant parts. It is one of the main natural phenols in argan oil, and is a component of castoreum, a substance from the castor gland of beavers, used in perfumery. It is also found in Agaricus bisporus.
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The beaver's fur consists of long, coarse outer hairs and short, fine inner hairs (see Double coat). The fur has a range of colors, but usually is dark brown. Scent glands near the genitals secrete an oily substance known as castoreum, which the beaver uses to waterproof its fur. There is also another set of oil glands producing unique chemical identifiers in the form of waxy esters and fatty acids.
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Synthetic musks are a class of synthetic aroma compounds to emulate the scent of deer musk and other animal musks (castoreum and civet). Synthetic musks have a clean, smooth and sweet scent lacking the fecal notes of animal musks. They are used as flavorings and fixatives in cosmetics, detergents, perfumes and foods, supplying the base note of many perfume formulas. Most musk fragrance used in perfumery today is synthetic.
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The opercula are traditionally treated with vinegar, alcohol and water in order to remove any fishy smell. The clean opercula are then ground to a powder and used as a scent fixative, in a technique similar to that used in perfumes with certain plant resins. When burnt on its own, high quality operculum reportedly smells of castoreum or other animal musks, while that of lower quality is reminiscent of burnt hair.
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The activity of castoreum has been credited to the accumulation of salicin from willow trees in the beaver's diet, which is transformed to salicylic acid and has an action very similar to that of aspirin. Salicin was the historical origin of aspirin and is chemically related to it. When consumed, the acetalic ether bridge is broken down. The two parts of the molecule, glucose and salicyl alcohol, then are metabolized separately.
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This may serve to reduce areas for infections when swimming in dirty waters. Beavers have a pair of castor sacs, which are found between the kidneys and urinary bladder and open into the urethra, and anal glands. The castor sacs secrete castoreum, a urine-based substance, which is mainly used for marking territory. Anal glands produce an oily substance which beavers use to rub on their fur to make it waterproof.
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259-262 (article ) p-Cresol and o-cresol are also components of the human sweat. P-cresol is also a major component in pig odor. 4-Ethylphenol, 1,2-dihydroxybenzene, 3-hydroxyacetophenone, 4-methyl-1,2-dihydroxybenzene, 4-methoxyacetophenone, 5-methoxysalicylic acid, salicylaldehyde, and 3-hydroxybenzoic acid are components of castoreum, the exudate from the castor sacs of the mature North American beaver (Castor canadensis) and the European beaver (Castor fiber), used in perfumery.
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Beaver range in Europe by 2001: red indicates range of Eurasian beaver; purple indicates range of introduced North American beaver in Finland. In 2009, the Eurasian beaver was reintroduced into Great Britain. The Eurasian beaver is recovering from near extinction, after depredation by humans for its fur and for castoreum, a secretion of its scent gland believed to have medicinal properties. The estimated population was only 1,200 by the early 20th century.
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In the United States, castoreum, the exudate from the castor sacs of mature beavers, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a food additive, often referenced simply as a "natural flavoring" in the product's list of ingredients. It is used in both food and beverages, especially as vanilla and raspberry flavoring, with a total annual U.S. production of less than 300 pounds.Burdock, George A., Fenaroli's Handbook of Flavor Ingredients . CRC Press, 2005. p. 277.
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Castoreum has been used in medicine, perfume and food flavoring while beaver pelts have been a major driver of the fur trade. Both species have been decimated due to overhunting but protections starting in the 19th and early 20th centuries have allowed their populations to rebound. They are both listed as least concern by the IUCN Red List of mammals. The beaver is famed for its industriousness and its building skills, and has been a popular symbol in Canada.
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The beaver was trapped out and almost extirpated in North America because its fur and castoreum were highly sought after. The beaver furs were used to make clothing and beaver hats. In the United States, extensive trapping began in the early 17th century, with more than 10,000 beaver per year taken for the fur trade in Connecticut and Massachusetts between 1620 and 1630. From 1630 to 1640, around 80,000 beavers were taken annually from the Hudson River and western New York.
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Gummivena is a fungal genus in the Mesophelliaceae family. The genus is monotypic, containing the single truffle-like species Gummivena potorooi, found in Western Australia. Described as new to science in 2002, Gummivena is intermediate in form between Castoreum and Gummiglobus, and has a gleba with "veins" of gummy tissue and a three-layered peridium. The specific epithet potorooi refers the fact that the fungus is found only in the range of the rare and endangered species Gilbert's potoroo (Potorous gilbertii).
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Communication is highly developed in beaver, including scent marking, vocalization, and tail slapping. Beaver deposit castoreum on piles of debris and mud called scent mounds, which are usually placed on or near lodges, dams, and trails less than a meter from water. Over 100 of such mounds can be constructed within one territory. Beaver colonies with close neighbors constructed more "scent mounds" than did isolated colonies, and the number of scent mounds at each active lodge is correlated with the distance to the nearest occupied lodge.
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The material hardens and ages until it becomes a fairly sterile, rock-like material (also referred to as "Africa Stone") that contains compounds giving it an animalic, deeply complex fermented scent that combines the elements of musk, castoreum, civet, tobacco and agarwood. The material is harvested without disturbing the animals by digging strata of the brittle, resinous, irregular, blackish-brown stone; because animals are not harmed in its harvesting, it is often an ethical substitute for deer musk and civet, which require killing or inflicting pain on the animal.
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Pediomelum castoreum is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names beaver Indian breadroot and beaver dam breadroot. It is native to the deserts around the intersection of California, Nevada, and Arizona, where it grows in local habitat including disturbed areas. It is a perennial herb with no stem or a short stem that is mostly underground, leaving the plant at ground level. The compound leaves are each made up of five or six oval leaflets which may be over 4 centimeters long.
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In May 2008, a joint application submitted by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and the Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT) was approved by the Scottish Government allowing for a trial reintroduction of the European beaver to the Knapdale Forest in Mid- Argyll. If the trial is successful then the European beaver will be the first mammal to be reintroduced to the United Kingdom. Beavers have been extinct in Scotland since the 16th century, when they were hunted for their pelt, meat and medicinal properties (use of castoreum).
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The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) or European beaver is a beaver species that was once widespread in Eurasia, but was hunted to near-extinction for both its fur and castoreum. At the turn of the 20th century, only about 1,200 beavers survived in eight relict populations in Europe and Asia. It has been reintroduced to much of its former range, and now occurs from Spain, Central Europe, Great Britain and Scandinavia to a few regions in China and Mongolia. It is listed as least concern on the IUCN Red List, as it recovered well in most of Europe.
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Main exports from Finland were furs, slaves, castoreum, and falcons to European courts. Imports included silk and other fabrics, jewelry, Ulfberht swords, and, in lesser extent, glass. Production of iron started approximately in 500 BC. At the end of the 9th century, indigenous artifact culture, especially women's jewelry and weapons, had more common local features than ever before. This has been interpreted to be expressing common Finnish identity which was born from an image of common origin. Late Iron Age swords found in Finland An early form of Finnic languages spread to the Baltic Sea region approximately 1900 BC with the Seima-Turbino-phenomenon.
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20-27 All are said to give forth a good scent when submitted to hot coals resembling somewhat the odor of castoreum. The operculum can be found in those species of mollusks with the following taxonomic names: Strombus fusus, Strombus murex and Strombus lentiginosus. Although the Talmud says that this spice is "produced on the ground" (), Zohar Amar argues that it was an animal product,Amar, Z. (2002), p. 78 implying that it was viewed by some as a plant growth only because of the horny plates of these sea creatures were often cast ashore by the waves and were found lying upon the sea shore.
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The name Ricinus is a Latin word for tick; the seed is so named because it has markings and a bump at the end that resemble certain ticks. The genus RicinusCharles de Geer, 1752-1778 Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire des insectes, digital facsimile at the Gallica website. also exists in zoology, and designates insects (not ticks) which are parasites of birds; this is possible because the names of animals and plants are governed by different nomenclature codes. The common name "castor oil" probably comes from its use as a replacement for castoreum, a perfume base made from the dried perineal glands of the beaver (castor in Latin).
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The Fringe division tracks down a series of deaths of wives shortly after the deaths of their respective husbands. Discovering traces of the husbands' DNA on the bodies of the wives, Walter Bishop (John Noble) suspects that the killer is using pheromones taken from the husbands to get close to the wives, using the substances as a perfume. Further identifying castoreum within the pheromone mix, they identify the murderer as Anson Carr (Michael Massee), a former and disgruntled employee of a perfume company afflicted with a rare skin disease. They arrive at Carr's home to find another husband, already dead, in a dehydration chamber, and race to protect his wife, Dianna (Ona Grauer).
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At the time, beaver pelts were highly prized in Europe, because the fur could be felted to make waterproof hats. A by-product of the trade in beaver pelts was castoreum—the secretion of the animals' anal glands—which was used for its medicinal properties and for perfumes. The expeditions by Adriaen Block and Hendrick Christiaensen in 1611, 1612, 1613 and 1614, resulted in the surveying and charting of the region from the 38th parallel to the 45th parallel. On their 1614 map, which gave them a four-year trade monopoly under a patent of the States General, they named the newly discovered and mapped territory New Netherland for the first time.
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Beaver at the Narew, Poland Both beaver species are listed as least concern by the IUCN Red List of mammals. The North American beaver is widespread throughout the continent down to northern Mexico; being absent only in the Arctic, the deserts of the southwestern US and in peninsular Florida. The species was also introduced to Finland, where it spread to other parts of Europe (and coexists with the Eurasian species), the Russian Far East, and Tierra del Fuego, Patagonia. Historically, the North American beaver was trapped and almost extirpated because its fur and castoreum were highly sought after. With protections in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the beaver population has rebounded to an estimated 10 to 15 million by the early 21 century; this is a fraction of the originally estimated 100 to 200 million North American beavers before the days of the fur trade.
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In Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Turkey, subfossil evidence of beavers extends down to the floodplains of the Tigris-Euphrates basin, and a carved stone stela dating between 1,000 and 800 BC in the Tell Halaf archaeological site along the Khabur River in northeastern Syria depicts a beaver. Although accounts of 19th-century European visitors to the Middle East appear to confuse beavers with otters, a 20th-century report of beavers by Hans Kummerlöwe in the Ceyhan River drainage of southern Turkey includes the diagnostic red incisor teeth, flat, scaly tail, and presence of gnawed willow stems. According to the Encyclopaedia Iranica, early Iranian Avestan and Pahlavi, and later Islamic literature, all reveal different words for otter and beaver, and castoreum was highly valued. Johannes Ludwijk Schlimmer, a noted Dutch physician in 19th-century Iran reported beavers below the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates in small numbers, along the bank of the Shatt al-Arab in the provinces of Shushtar and Dezful.
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