Beavers | Nature Adventure

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Biology

Beavers are short, squat rodents native to North America, with a secondary species native to Eurasia. They are not the largest rodent (that honor belongs to the capybara), but are the second largest in the world, and that's still pretty big! Adult American beavers can weigh an average of 44 lbs (or 20 kg); they have webbed back feet, and flat tails that look a bit like paddles. These animals are semi-aquatic, meaning that they live most of their lives in water. Their thick, double-coated fur helps protect them from the elements, and high body fat helps to keep them warm.

Beavers are best known for their love of chewing wood, and this is no myth! They both eat wood bark and build their homes, called "lodges", out of tree branches and sticks. To do this, they have a pair of front teeth (or incisors) that never stop growing, meaning that they can continuously wear them down over time. If they didn't have this adaptation, their teeth would wear down to nubs in no time! But because they are always growing, beavers need to have a steady supply of wood to gnaw on in order to keep them from getting too long.

Chewing wood is so important to beavers, tn fact, that are able to close their lips behind these teeth so they can chew wood even while underwater! Sounds a bit weird to us humans, but the unique shape of their skulls is what allows them to do this.

Beaver lodges are built directly in the body of water they live in, but may extend onto the land. These are where the beaver will sleep, go to dry off and get warm, raise their families, and hide from predators. They construct the mound with sticks, and then use their tails to pat down mud to seal it away from the drafty air in winter. This mud acts almost like adobe, drying as hard as concrete!

Ecological Importance

When beavers construct their lodges, they may also make dams in the nearby rivers. This incredible feat of engineering actually raises the water level around the beaver's home, allowing it to have a deeper lake in which to swim. This gives them a much better chance of surviving when being chased by a predator, as they can dive into their lodges from an underwater entrance. Beavers also store piles (or caches) of food at the bottom of deep lakes, where the colder water helps keep the wood fresh for longer. It's almost like having an underwater refrigerator!

Building dams doesn't just help the beaver, though. Creating these deep ponds also forms habitats for fish, waterfowl like ducks and swans, and other aquatic animals, like otters! This also affects the plant-life in the area, giving reeds and other water-dwelling plants a more stable environment in which to grow.

In the construction of a dam, beavers will also create canals. These are streams of water dug out by the beaver from the main body of the lake, which they then use to float larger tree trunks towards the dam. This level of planning and understanding of engineering is simply amazing for a rodent, and changes the entire ecosystem around them! When given room to thrive, they are the hardest working ecologists in the forest!

Did you know?

Beavers hate the sound of running water so much, they will actively seek out any source of the sound and try to patch the hole in their dams. Even if there is no hole at all!

When playing the sounds of running water near a beaver dam or zoo enclosure, beavers have been known to go so far as to cover the speakers with twigs, rocks, and mud in an attempt to make the sound stop. This dedication to maintaining their constructions means that they are extremely good at maintaining the health of the lakes they live in.

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