American Beaver

The Beaver

Few animals are able to recover when hunted to near extinction. Most animals never recover their original numbers, but that is not the case with the American Beaver. Once hunted and trapped to near extinction for their valuable furs the beaver has made a comeback to the point of almost over population. Today beavers can be found almost everywhere in North America that you find temperate climates and running water. It is in this habitat that the beaver lives and works tirelessly changing their surroundings to suit the beaver’s needs.

The American Beaver are beefy, aquatic herbivores of the rodent order and the only surviving member of the family Castoridae. Beavers are hefty animals, weighing as much as 88 pounds but averaging between 30 to 60 pounds, with lengths of 3 to 3 Ð'Ð... feet from nose to tail. These statistics make the beaver the second largest rodent in the world, behind only the capybaras of South America and its 110 pound weight. The most distinctive characteristic of the beaver is their broad flat tail. This tail serves many purposes for the beaver, such as a steering rudders when swimming and propulsion for quick bursts of speed underwater. The beaver tail also serves as a fat storage site and can be used to judge the health of the beaver; a fatter tail is a good indication of a healthy beaver. The beaver also uses their tail to knock over trees, build beaver dams and signal other beavers of impending danger.

Beaver’s hind feet are also webbed to help them swim more efficiently and a beaver is equipped with a thick coat of fur to keep them warm and dry. A beaver has four giant incisor teeth, two on top and two on the bottom, that continue to grow throughout the beavers life. These teeth aid the beaver in both eating and their work in building dams.

Beavers are often described as being very industrious or occupied animals. If an open-water area, such as a pond, is not available, beavers will construct one by damming a river or steam with logs, sticks and mud. Mostly nocturnal, these animals can quickly change an environment to suit their needs. These dams are quite impressive structures, normally measuring between 100 and 200 feet long and as high as ten feet tall. In the first stages of a dam, a beaver will use mud and rocks to hold logs and wood in place, then as the damn grows, its own weight holds it in place. Then a beaver will pack mud, debris and leaves into the cracks of the dam, to hold water back. The goal