Encyklopedias are also wrong...

Water beaver (Castor fiber)

• Body length – 0,67–1 m
• Tail length – 0,28-0,38 m
• Weight – 15-30 kg
• On the hoofs he has a web between fingers, mainly on the rear hoofs are good developed.
• He is activ early in the morning or in dusk, he’s very sensitive, difficult to see him in work.
• He lives in Eurasia and North America.
• In Slovakia wiped out in the second half of the 19^th century!!!
• It is a highly protected animal the refresh is very probably.

From: Z našej prírody. Živočíchy.  Bratislava: Príroda, 1980

Update 11. november 2004
Ing. Lýdia Haliaková