Examining Beaver Behaviour
Beavers obtain food and building materials by toppling trees with nothing more than their adapted incisor teeth and powerful lower jaw muscles. In fact, beaver teeth never stop growing, so they won’t become too worn despite years of chewing through hardwoods. Their four front teeth are self-sharpening due to the hard orange enamel on the front of the tooth.
One of the most distinctive features of the beaver is their large, flat tail that operates like a rudder in the water and a prop when sitting upright. It also works as a storehouse of fat for the winter. Beavers also use their tails to slap against the water as a warning of danger. Beavers are aquatic mammals with large webbed hind feet that are ideal for swimming, and dextrous front paws that allow them to manipulate and carry objects. They have a surprisingly good sense of hearing and scent and rely on these senses more than their less-developed eyesight. Their fur consists of short, fine hairs for warmth and longer hairs for waterproofing. They have to groom daily to keep it waterproof, using their castor glands to excrete an oily substance used in the grooming process.
Diet
Beavers are pure vegetarians, subsisting on woody and aquatic vegetation. They’re known to eat fresh leaves, twigs, stems, and bark. Beavers will chew on nearly any species of tree, but prefer alder, aspen, birch, cottonwood, maple, poplar, and willow. In terms of water vegetation, they enjoy cattails, water lilies, sedges, and rushes. However, cattail and lily tubers are their favourites. They use their front paws to clutch and munch on plants.
During the colder seasons, beavers will stockpile sticks underwater because they don’t hibernate. They live on these sticks because once the pond freezes, they no longer have access to trees on the land. Beavers instead remain inside their lodge all winter, except when they swim under the ice to their food cache.
Dams and canals
The dams, canals, and lodges beavers build have gained them the reputation of “Nature’s Engineers”. No other animal, with the exception of humans, alters their habitat to suit their own needs.
On land, beavers have short legs and a wide body that makes them slow and vulnerable to predators. However, unlike most of their historic predators, beavers are very excellent swimmers. As a result, they have a strong preference to remain close to or in the safety of the water. The need for safety is the primary reason beavers build their dams and create ponds, after all.
Beavers typically start building dams in low-lying areas with shallow, moving water. They utilize natural or manmade objects such as rock outcropping or a stone wall, the constriction of a stream bed, a tree stump, etc. to anchor their dams. While they may be slightly predictable, they can use a wide variety of spots to build a dam.
Once a beaver pond is formed, they don’t have to travel far on land to gain access to new trees. The more area their dam floods, the more food they can access safely. Sometimes, beavers even excavate canals over a hundred feet long to bring water closer to the stands of their favourite trees. This allows them to swim up to the streets and retreat quickly if they sense danger.
Each beaver colony usually establishes one large bond where they build their lodge. In addition to this primary pond, other smaller dams are usually built to create smaller ponds. These smaller ponds allow for safe travel for the beaver as it seeks out food.
