Fig. 122. Distribution of the mountain beaver in Washington. A. Aplodontia rufa rufa. B. Aplodontia rufa rainieri.
The mountain beaver holds its food in its forefeet, squirrel-like, when it eats. Its food consists of the leaves and bark of woody plants and entire herbs, including roots. The mountain beaver is the only mammal so far as known that eats the bracken fern. It feeds on the branches of coniferous trees, including Douglas fir, red cedar, and hemlock. Such thorny species as the blackberry, blackcap and devil's club are eaten. The odiferous skunk cabbage and the stinging nettle are on its bill of fare. A list of its food would include most plants found in its habitat, and we know of no species that it refuses as food.
The mountain beaver is more of a nuisance than a pest. In most of its range there is but little farming although where crops are raised the mountain beaver may do some damage. It undermines roads and trails and defiles springs and streams. Control is simple for the animals readily enter steel traps set in their burrows.
Aplodontia rufa rufa (Rafinesque)
Anisonyx? rufa Rafinesque, Amer. Monthly Mag., 2:45, November, 1817.
Haplodon rufus True, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 7 (1884):596, 1885.
Aplodontia rufa [Merriam], Ann. New York Acad. Sci., 3:316, May, 1886.
Aplodontia olympica [Merriam], Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 13:20, January 31, 1899 (type from Lake Quiniault, Grays Harbor County, Washington).