the Eurasian beaver appears to have become extinct 2000-2500 years ago, although a small population might have survived into the 1st millennium AD. In 1999, 18 Eurasian beavers were reintroduced to the Flynder creek in the Klosterhede Plantage state forest in west-central Jutland, Denmark, that originated from Elbe river in Germany. At Arresø in northern Zealand, 23 Eurasian beavers were reintroduced between 2009 and 2011. By 2019, it was estimated that the Jutland population had increased to 240-270 individuals and it had spread well beyond the region where first introduced, with records ranging from Hanstholm in north to Varde and Kolding in south. The population in northern Zealand, which had yet to significantly expand its geographic range beyond the region where first introduced, had increased to 50-60 individuals in 2019. In southern Norway, there was still a natural population of Eurasian beavers in the early 1900s, which was one of a few surviving in Europe at that time. Following protection, the Norwegian range of the species has expanded. In Sweden, the Eurasian beaver had been hunted to extinction by around 1870. Between 1922 and 1939, about 80 individuals were imported from Norway and introduced to 19 separate sites within the country. Beavers were reintroduced to central Norway's Ingdalselva River watershed on the Agdenes peninsula in Sør-Trøndelag County in 1968–1969. The area is hilly to mountainous with many small watersheds. Rivers are usually too steep along most of their length for beaver colonisation, so that suitable habitat is scattered, with rarely room for more than one territory in a habitat patch. While widespread signs of vagrant beavers were found, spread as a breeding animal was slowed by watershed divides in the hilly terrain. Suitable sites within watersheds were rapidly colonised. Some spread could only be plausibly explained by assuming travel through sheltered sea water in fjords. Eurasian beavers are present in Finland, both having spread from adjacent Sweden and the result of local reintroductions, but most of the Finnish population is a released North American beaver population. The population of the latter species is controlled to prevent them from spreading into areas inhabited by Eurasian beavers. United Kingdom The Eurasian beaver became extinct in Britain in the 16th century. The last reference to beavers in England dates to 1526. A population of Eurasian beaver of unknown origin has been present on the River Otter, Devon in south-west England since 2008. An