European beaver (Castor fiber L. 1758) is the biggest rodent living in Europe. It is a semi-aquatic animal known for building dams and burrows. European beaver is a potential host for a wide range of parasites and other infectious diseases. In Slovakia, there is an increasing number of beavers but the data about their parasitic fauna are missing. Our work is the first documentation about the beaver's parasitofauna in Slovakia. In a 1-year study, we collected and examined 19 beaver fecal samples from the vicinity of beaver burrows inhabiting three particular localities at the Danube, Topľa, and Laborec rivers in Slovakia. In these fecal samples, 4 different species of intestinal endoparasites were detected as follows: oocysts of Cryptosporidium, cysts of Giardia, eggs of Stichorchis subtriquetrus, and eggs and larvae of Travassosius rufus. Parasites were confirmed only in samples collected at river Topľa. Based on our results, we can conclude that European beaver can be an important source of parasitic contamination of surface waters especially in the localities shared by people.

Grammar School of Leonard Stöckel in Bardejov Jiráskova 12 085 70 Bardejov Slovak Republic

Institute of Biology and Ecology Faculty of Science Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice Šrobárova 2 041 54 Košice Slovak Republic

Institute of Parasitology Slovak Academy of Sciences Hlinkova 3 040 01 Košice Slovak Republic

Masaryk University Faculty of Medicine in Brno Kamenice 753 5 625 00 Brno Czech Republic

University of Veterinary Medicine and Pharmacy in Košice Komenského 73 04181 Košice Slovak Republic

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