Did you know beavers are one of the largest members of the rodent family? They are found almost everywhere in Canada, and their picture can be found on the back of a Canadian nickel. A beaver can weigh as much as 30 kilograms! Some beavers have been known to reach the astounding weight of 50 kilograms!
The beaver’s long front teeth or incisors are strong and sharp. They help the beaver cut through tree trunks. The animal gnaws around the tree, chomping through the wood and making the shape of an hourglass, until the tree can no longer stand. The trees are stripped of bark and used for building dams and lodges.
Beaver dams are usually built across streams, causing the area around the stream to flood and become a pond. In this way the beaver can create its own environment or habitat. Lodges are shaped like domes and are built in deep water. The base of a lodge can be up to 7 metres wide and stand up to 3 metres tall. This is like a three-person tent! The entrance to the lodge is under water, so the beaver’s enemies cannot enter into the beaver’s home. When a beaver exits its home, it will swim for some distance before surfacing. This is to keep predators from finding the entrance by watching the beaver’s movements.
The beaver weaves branches and logs to form the dam or lodge. Dams have been found that are as wide as 5 metres. The length of a dam depends on the width of the stream the beaver is trying to block. A beaver could build a dam as long as and as wide as a school hallway!
Beavers are herbivores. This means they eat plants and leaves. Their favourite plants are aquatic vegetation, or water plants. They don’t really eat the wood from the trees they chomp down, but they do like the tender new branches on the trees. The beavers will take these young shoots into their lodges for the young beavers to eat.
Beaver fur is thick and shiny. The fur was very attractive to people, and often beavers were trapped for their fur. The beaver tail is supposed to be a tasty treat and is considered a delicacy for some! Trapping beavers nearly caused their extinction. Now trapping laws save the beavers from being hunted too much.