North American beaver
The North American beaver is a large, semi-aquatic rodent known for its impressive dam-building skills. These beavers have distinctive reddish-black waterproof coats, flat scaly tails, and large incisors that they use to fell trees for dam construction. Typically found in woodland areas near streams, rivers, and lakes, they build dams to create deep water pools that provide safety and food storage for the winter months. Their diet primarily consists of leaves, herbs, and tree bark, which they gather and store under the water for winter consumption. North American beavers are social animals that live in family groups, engage in lifelong monogamous relationships, and raise their young, known as kits, together. They have a critical role in their ecosystems by creating wetland habitats that support diverse wildlife. Although they face natural predators and have been historically hunted for their fur, they are not considered a threatened species and are protected in many areas to ensure their populations remain stable. With a lifespan of 10 to 20 years, North American beavers contribute significantly to the biodiversity of their habitats.
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North American beaver
North American beavers build dams across streams, rivers, and lakes. They stay in their dams all winter, eating from the storage pile of food that they collected in the fall.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Castoridae
Genus: Castor
Species: Canadensis
North American beavers have reddish-black waterproof coats, flat, scaly tails, webbed hind feet, and large sharp cutting front (incisor) teeth. North American beavers have whiskers that help them find their way around. They grow to a shoulder height of between one and 1 1/2 feet (1/2 meters) and have a head and body length of between 29 and 35 inches (74 to 90 centimeters). Their tails are between eight and 14 inches (20 to 35 centimeters) long, and they weigh between 24 and 71 pounds (11 to 32 kilograms). There is no difference in size or weight between male and female North American beavers.
North American beavers live in dams in streams, lakes, and rivers near woodland areas. Sometimes they build dams far away from people, and sometimes they build them very near to where people live. North American beavers know exactly where to build their dams by listening to the flowing of the water. The dams are built completely across the water where it is moving at a steady pace, but not too fast. They build the dam there, to create a backed-up area of deeper water where they can swim and store food. North American beaver families work together to build their dams. They cut down trees with their sharp incisor teeth, so that when the tree falls it will fall straight into the water. North American beavers like to use willow trees, aspens, and poplars because they are soft wood and easy to cut through.
North American beavers weave the trees together with mud, stones and sticks from the sides and bottom of the stream. This is how they build their dams. Inside these dams North American beavers build chambers and tunnels to live in and move through. They build a pile of tree branches under the water. That pile is their storage of food for the winter.
North American beavers, like all beavers, are herbivores, non-meat-eating animals. They eat leaves, herbs, ferns, grasses, and algae during the spring and summer. In the winter months their diet changes to mostly tree bark. During the fall they collect bark from many trees and store it under the water to eat during the coming winter. They stay in their nests inside their dams in the winter because the temperature stays the same there. Though very cold, the water is warmer for the beaver than the wind, air, and snow above the ice level.
Mating season for North American beavers is in the winter, usually in January or February. They find a good partner, mate in the water, and stay together for life. They have a gestation period (duration of pregnancy) of about three months. The female then gives birth to up to four kits, young beavers. The kits are weaned after two weeks but live with their parents for about one year. Then the female is ready to give birth again. The kits are then forced out of the den, to build dens of their own.
Since it is very dark under the surface of the water, North American beavers never know when the sun comes up and when it goes down. Because of this they often work long days and into the night during the winter.
When North American beavers fear there is danger approaching, they slap the water loudly to warn the rest of their family. Predators of the North American beaver include wolves, wolverwines, lynx, river otters, and bears. The beaver has been hunted for its fur and meat for many, many years. Today it is saved from becoming extinct through groups of people who protect the beavers by limiting the number of beavers that hunters are permitted to kill each year. Still, there are more beavers in North America than in any other place in the world.
The life span of the North American beaver is between 10 and 20 years. They are not a threatened species.
Bibliography
“American Beaver - Facts, Diet, Habitat, & Pictures on Animalia.bio.” Animalia, 2024, animalia.bio/american-beaver?environment=326. Accessed 1 May 2024.
Anderson, Rebecca. “ADW: Castor Canadensis: Information.” Animal Diversity Web, 2002, animaldiversity.org/accounts/Castor‗canadensis. Accessed 1 May 2024.