Beavers are one of the most interesting animals on our planet. Self-sharpening incisor teeth help beavers not only cut down trees, but also build homes for themselves and even build dams.
Among the representatives of the rodent order, the beaver ranks second (after the copybara) in body weight, which reaches 32 kg. (sometimes 50 kg) with a body length of up to 80-100 cm and a tail length of 25-50 cm. In prehistoric times (during the Pleistocene era), beavers were much larger, their height reached 2.75 m, and their weight was 350 kg.
Modern beavers are divided into two species: the common beaver, common in Eurasia, and the Canadian beaver, whose natural habitat is North America. Due to the great similarity in appearance and habits between the two beaver populations, until recently the Canadian beaver was considered a subspecies of the common beaver, until it became clear that there is still a genetic difference between these species, since the common beaver has 48 chromosomes, while the Canadian one is only 40. In addition, beavers of two species cannot interbreed.
The beaver has a squat body, five-fingered limbs with strong claws and a wide paddle-shaped tail. Contrary to popular belief, the tail of beavers is not at all a tool for building their homes; it serves as a rudder when swimming. The beaver is a semi-aquatic animal, therefore, much in the appearance of this mammal shows its adaptability to being in water: between the toes there are swimming membranes, especially strongly developed on the front legs, in the eyes of the beaver there are nictitating membranes that allow you to see under water, the ear openings and nostrils close under water, large lungs and liver provide such reserves of air and arterial blood that beavers can stay under water for 10-15 minutes, swimming up to 750 m during this time. A thick layer of subcutaneous fat protects against the cold.
Beavers are exclusively herbivorous; they feed on the bark and shoots of trees, preferring aspen, willow, poplar and birch, as well as various herbaceous plants (water lily, egg capsule, iris, cattail, reed). In order to obtain bark and shoots, as well as for construction needs, beavers cut down trees, gnawing them at the base. An aspen with a diameter of 5-7 cm is felled by a beaver in 5 minutes, a tree with a diameter of 40 cm is felled and cut up overnight. A beaver gnaws, rising on its hind legs and leaning on its tail. Its jaws act like a saw: to fell a tree, the beaver rests its upper incisors against its bark and begins to quickly move its lower jaw from side to side, making 5-6 movements per second. The beaver's incisors are self-sharpening: only the front side is covered with enamel, the back side consists of less hard dentin. When a beaver chews on something, the dentin wears down faster than the enamel, so the leading edge of the tooth remains sharp all the time.
Trees chewed by beavers:
Video about the life of beavers, where you can see how beavers gnaw trees:
Beavers live along the banks of slow-flowing rivers, as well as ponds, lakes, and reservoirs. For housing, beavers can dig holes in steep banks with several entrances, each of which is located under water so that land predators cannot penetrate there. If digging a hole is impossible, beavers build a special dwelling - a hut - right in the water. A beaver lodge is a pile of brushwood held together by silt and clay. The height of the hut can reach up to 3 meters, and the diameter up to 12 meters. Like a hole, a hut is a reliable shelter from predators. Inside the hut there are manholes under the water and a platform rising above the water level. The bottom of the hut is lined with bark and herbs. With the onset of the first frost, beavers additionally insulate the hut with new layers of clay. Air penetrates through the ceiling. In cold weather, clouds of steam can be seen above the beaver lodges. In the coldest weather, the temperature in the hut remains above zero, and even if the reservoir is covered with ice, the ice hole under the hut does not freeze, which is very important for beavers, because beavers store food reserves for the winter, prepared in winter, under the overhanging banks directly into the water, from where they then take them when the cold comes.
beaver hut
Beavers live alone or in families. A complete family consists of 5-8 individuals. The mating season for beavers is in winter. Cubs are born in April-May and can swim within one or two days. At the age of 3-4 weeks, beaver cubs switch to feeding on leaves and soft stems of grass, but the mother continues to feed them with milk for up to 3 months. Grown-up young animals usually do not leave their parents for another 2-3 years. In captivity, beavers live up to 35 years, in the wild 10-19 years.
The head of the beaver family marks the boundaries of his territory with the so-called “beaver stream” - special secretions that were previously actively used in medicine, and are now used in the creation of expensive perfumes.
In case of danger, beavers give an alarm signal to their relatives by striking the water with their tail.
To prevent water from flooding the hut during a flood or, conversely, the reservoir suddenly becoming shallow, beavers often build dams. Construction begins with beavers sticking branches and trunks into the bottom, strengthening the gaps with branches and reeds, filling the voids with silt, moss, clay and stones. They often use a tree that has fallen into the river as a supporting frame, gradually covering it on all sides with building material. The longest dam built by beavers was 850 meters long. If a dam somewhere begins to let in more water than necessary, the beavers immediately seal up this place. Thanks to their excellent hearing, beavers accurately determine the place where the water began to flow faster. One day, scientists conducted an experiment: on the shore of a reservoir, a tape recorder was turned on with the recorded sound of flowing water. Despite the fact that the tape recorder was standing on dry land and there was no trace of any flowing water, the beavers’ instinct worked and they immediately covered up the “leak” with mud.
Although beavers may seem like forest pests, beavers' activities actually have beneficial effects on the ecosystem. For example, the number of ducks in reservoirs improved by beavers is on average 75 times greater than in reservoirs without beavers. This is due to the fact that beaver dams and calm water attract shellfish and aquatic insects, which, in turn, attract waterfowl and muskrats. Birds bring fish eggs on their paws and there are more fish in beaver ponds. Trees felled by beavers serve as food for hares and many ungulates, which gnaw the bark from the trunks and branches. The sap that flows from undermined trees in the spring is loved by butterflies and ants, followed by birds. In addition, dams help purify water, reducing its turbidity, because silt lingers in them.
Beavers have long been hunted for their valuable fur and beaver stream. As a result, at the beginning of the 20th century, beavers were completely exterminated in many European countries, and the total number of beavers in Eurasia was only 1,200 individuals. In the 20th century, largely due to active efforts to restore the beaver population in the Soviet Union, the situation began to gradually improve. In 1922, beaver hunting was banned in the USSR, and in 1923 the Voronezh Beaver Reserve was founded, where ideal conditions were created for beaver breeding. Beavers from the Voronezh Nature Reserve were resettled throughout the USSR, as well as in Poland, China, the GDR and other countries. Currently, the number of beavers in Russia exceeds 340 thousand, almost half are of Voronezh origin. The reserve is still open today, and when you visit it, you can take home photos of beavers (about 300 of them live here) taken with your own hands. In addition to beavers, the reserve has 333 species of vertebrates.
In North America, beavers were also brought to the brink of extinction, but their protection in the USA and Canada began at the end of the 19th century, and now there are 10-15 million beavers on the American continent, which is many times higher than the number of beavers in Eurasia (where there are about 640 of them) thousand according to data for 2003), however, it is much inferior to the time when the fur trade in America was not yet in fashion (at that time there were 100-200 million beavers in America).
Canadian beavers now live far beyond their natural range. In 1946, the Argentine government imported 25 pairs of Canadian beavers to the Tierra del Fuego archipelago to begin the beaver fur trade in the region. However, beavers, having found themselves in an ecosystem where they had no natural enemies, multiplied so much that they threatened local forests. Currently, 200 thousand beavers live on the archipelago.
In addition to Argentina, Canadian beavers were brought to Sweden and Finland, from where the beavers moved to Northwestern Russia, where they began to compete for territory with Eurasian beavers. The number of Canadian beavers in North-West Russia can reach up to 20 thousand individuals.
In Russian there is a word "beaver", but it is not a synonym for the word "beaver". "Beaver" is an animal, and "beaver" is the fur of a beaver.
Beavers are one of the largest rodents on the planet. In nature, there are 2 types of animals: the common beaver, which is spread throughout Eurasia, and the Canadian beaver, which lives in North America.
They are very similar in appearance and habits, but scientists have recently discovered that the species differ at the genetic level: the common beaver has 48 chromosomes, while the Canadian beaver has 40. This difference makes it impossible to cross them.
What does a common beaver look like?
This rodent grows up to 1 meter in length, excluding the length of the tail, which is 0.4-0.5 meters. An adult young beaver weighs on average 30-32 kg, and an old one can weigh up to 45 kg, since these animals grow throughout their lives.
Large head with a narrow muzzle, small eyes and ears, 2 large protruding incisors in front. The animal's fur is most often brown, but there are dark red, chestnut and even black beavers. Long, shiny, coarse hair on top and a soft, delicate, thick undercoat keep this rodent dry and warm even in harsh winters. Beavers carefully take care of their “fur coat” - they comb it with the forked claw of their hind paws, while simultaneously lubricating it with a special fatty secretion, thanks to which the fur does not get wet in water. A thick layer of subcutaneous fat also protects from the cold.
Five-toed paws have special membranes between the toes and strong thickened claws.
The beaver has an amazing tail - flat, like an oar, without hair, covered with horny scales with a horny “keel” along the midline.
Beavers have special teeth - self-sharpening.
Beaver lifestyle and nutrition
Beavers are semi-aquatic rodents. On land they are clumsy and slow, but in water they are fast, agile swimmers, and excellent divers. They are perfectly adapted to water: webbed paws, a flat paddle tail, transparent eyelids that protect the eyes and allow excellent vision under water, labial growths behind the main incisors allow them to sharpen wood in water, while protecting the oral cavity. They can stay underwater for up to 15 minutes, sometimes swimming up to 1 km.
These animals are strict vegetarians. They feed on wood, preferring soft species - aspen, alder, willow, birch. They also eat leaves, branches, young shoots, sedge, water lilies, and water lilies.
They are very peaceful, prefer to move away from danger, but there are cases of open attack, then the enemy has a hard time - beavers are strong fighters, if they have already entered into a fight (which happens extremely rarely), they fight fiercely and bravely.
Beavers lead a twilight-nocturnal lifestyle. In the wild they live up to 20-25 years, in captivity - up to 35 years.
Beaver family
Matriarchy reigns in the beaver family. The female is the main one, she is also outwardly larger than the male. Once united, they remain faithful to each other throughout their lives. Scientists studying the habits of beavers have come to the conclusion that even if one of the partners dies, the second often does not acquire a pair again, but remains alone forever.
Mating occurs in water (often under ice) in February. After 3.5 months, from 2 to 6 fur-covered cubs weighing 500 grams are born. Within a few days they can swim; after a couple of weeks they begin to feed on leaves and thin stems, although they do not receive mother’s milk until 3 months.
A complete family consists of the main female, the male father, last year's brood and the current year's beaver cubs. The young leave the family only at 3 years of age. They live very friendly, do not fight for food, and build huts and dams together.
Do beavers have higher education in hydraulic engineering?
Throughout their lives, they build dams, choosing the right places, using precise technologies and accurate calculations. Scientists are still amazed at such abilities today. It's still not clear how beavers measure distance or the weight of building material, but they never make mistakes. Their dams are so strong that they can support the weight of a horse. Beavers strictly monitor the integrity of their structures, immediately repairing damage.
For construction, not only the trunks of trees felled by beavers are used (they have a characteristic hourglass shape), but also branches, stones, silt, and clay.
For housing, they dig holes - these are complex labyrinths, or build huts - above-water structures from branches held together with silt and clay. The entrance to the home is always located under water.
Interestingly, “tenants” often settle in the huts and coexist peacefully with the beaver family. This is a water snake, a water vole, and a muskrat.
Beavers are amazingly clean animals. They always keep their home clean, rest outside the house, and take leftover food outside.
The territory that beavers use for the construction of dams and lodges has been in the sole use of one family for many decades. Beavers mark “their” places with beaver stream - a dark, odorous oily liquid. Interestingly, this secret is highly valued by perfumers, using it to give special durability to perfumes.
Today beavers are listed in the Red Book. Active work is underway to restore the population that was practically destroyed for the sake of valuable fur and beaver secretions.
Beaver Information Posted by Savannah
The river beaver lives in the freshwater environment of lakes, rivers, ponds, and streams. This animal was recently on the verge of extinction. This situation has arisen due to the fault of humanity, which likes to wear warm hats and fur coats.
The entire life of a beaver is connected to the aquatic environment. To make it easier for the animal to swim, there are membranes on its hind legs, and a large tail also helps.
The beaver reaches a weight of up to 23 kg and a length of 135 cm. Females are always smaller than males. The beaver is characterized by a blunt muzzle, small ears and short legs. The beaver's fur consists of several layers: the first layer is coarse red-brown hair, the second is a gray undercoat that prevents hypothermia.
The reservoirs in which beavers live should be in forested areas, deep and with a slow flow. Animals often create artificial conditions, “making” huge dams from tree branches, algae, and silt.
Beavers diligently build a dam in order to change the direction of water flow. Underwater, a beaver dam can be up to 3 meters thick, and from above it narrows to about 60 cm. The strength of the dam is surprising; it can easily withstand the weight of a horse!
Beavers purposefully change the water flow so that water floods dry places and forms a pond in which the animal will build a hut. Their house resembles an upside down cup. There are 2 rooms in the house: a family of beavers lives in one, this room is filled with rubble. And near the exit, the second room is a pantry with food supplies for the winter. The beaver's house can be seen above the surface of the water. But for protection purposes, the entrance is located under. water.
Schematic representation of a beaver dam and house. As you can see, the house is a separate building.
As expected, there are two exits from the house: the front exit and the emergency exit.
This is all great, of course, but why do beavers need dams? The answer is simple, in winter these rodents remain active and they need a dam of sufficient depth so that they do not freeze to the very bottom. The dam helps raise the water level. In general, you need to be well prepared for winter, otherwise you’ll be in trouble :-).
Film: “Beavers. Great builders." From the series “Alone with Nature.”
Interesting video about the life of beavers. By the way, did you know that beaver dams have the shape of an arc concave against the current; all modern dams built by man have the same shape. And it is no coincidence that an arc concave against the flow can best withstand the pressure of water. The last minute is a complete mess :)
Film for children: All about animals [Beavers].
Idyllic video: Beaver washes his hair / Beaver Resting.
A beaver can also get along with people without difficulty: “They sheltered a beaver (Beaver Semyon).”
Semyon. Continuation.
The beaver is considered the largest rodent in the Eastern Hemisphere: in size it is second only to the capybara, an inhabitant of the South American jungle. Like most rodents, beavers are strict vegetarians. What do beavers eat in the summer and during periods when normal warm-season food is not available to them? Let's take a closer look.
What do beavers eat in summer?
The diet of beavers depends on the lifestyle they lead. Since these are semi-aquatic animals, they feed on what is contained in the water and the nearby coastal strip. Rodents do not move far from water, therefore, you will not find them further than 200 meters from the nearest body of water. Beavers love to eat the bark and young shoots of some deciduous trees - aspen, birch, willow or poplar. They usually eat 2-3 species of wood, and to switch to a different diet, it takes time for the intestinal microflora to adapt to changes in the diet.
Beavers prefer to eat representatives of the willow family:
- willow;
- broom;
- willow;
- alder, etc.
And if there is a choice of what to eat - willow or birch, then the beaver will always eat the willow first, and leave the birch “for later.” He will consume birch shoots when there are no other trees left, presumably this is due to the fact that birch bark contains tar. In addition, they are excellent eaters of acorns. Sometimes they can wander into vegetable gardens, if they are located near their home, and feast on carrots, radishes, turnips or other root vegetables.
In addition to the bark and shoots of trees, the summer diet of beavers includes many herbaceous plants in our water bodies. Reed, reed, cattail, water lily, iris, egg capsule and many other aquatic plants are an important addition to the woody component of their diet. But beavers do not eat fish, although from time to time some “naturalists” come to the conclusion that the reduction in fish populations in certain reservoirs is associated with the settlement of the beaver family there. This is not so, the decrease in the number of fish depends on some other factors, and beavers have nothing to do with this fact: they do not eat fish, shellfish, or larvae of aquatic insects, since they are strictly herbivorous. The amount of food consumed by beavers daily is enormous and amounts to up to 20 percent of their weight.
Beaver diet in winter
In winter, the life of the reservoir freezes, and the amount of food decreases greatly. Beavers, like many animals, therefore make provisions for the winter. They consist of branches - both thin and quite thick. Willow wood is harvested first, and aspen and other deciduous species are less readily harvested. Harvesting is carried out first around the house, and as the reserves of wood suitable for “canning” run out, the animals move further and further from the house.
For the winter, one beaver family needs up to 30 cubic meters of wood, and if the family is large - up to 70. Part of the reserves (about 2-3 cubic meters) is immersed in water and compacted into the ground. And the bulk of food is stored somewhere near housing, consumed as needed. Beavers can eat those reserves that are stored under water right on the spot, without dragging them to the surface. Considering that the reservoir is frozen at this time, such eating is safe for animals - no predator will get them.
At the end of February, beavers begin to leave their huts on the shore in search of fresh food. As the weather gets warmer, these “promenades” become longer and longer. At this time, animals can cut down thick trees growing on the shore of a reservoir that has become their home. Gradually, rodents switch completely to “pasture” food, since by that time the remains of branches stored for the winter usually become less preferable than fresh food. In exceptionally favorable conditions, when there is an abundance of herbaceous food in the reservoir, beavers may not make winter preparations.
With an extremely beautiful “fur coat”. Because of their amazing skin, they were on the verge of extinction in the recent past. The reason for this is people who exterminated beavers in huge quantities, using their skins to sew fur coats and hats.
It is difficult to find more industrious animals; they cannot live without work; they are born builders who use their strong teeth as tools. Beavers are also exemplary spouses and parents. Matriarchy reigns in their family; in a pair, a female and a male are very kind to each other and raise their offspring together. If you are interested in learning how beavers care for their young, read this article.
Description of beavers
In ancient times, the ancestors of beavers were enormous in size; their current descendants are not so large, but they cannot be called small rodents. An adult beaver reaches a length of 1.3-1.4 m and weighs 25-30 kg. Females are large in size. The female mother leads the entire family; it is she who organizes construction work and controls the filling of storerooms with supplies for the winter.
The beaver's limbs are short, they move awkwardly on land, but in the water they have no equal in swimming and diving. The muzzle is blunt, the ears are small. The fur consists of two layers: a guard hair of red-brown color and a thick gray undercoat. Such a “fur coat” can protect the animal from the cold and prevents it from freezing in icy water.
The beaver uses its black, bare tail as a paddle when maneuvering underwater. It is horizontally flat and covered with scales. The pride of these animals is their teeth. They are unusually strong and continue to grow throughout life. If these hardworking rodents did not grind them down on wood every day, it is impossible to imagine how long their teeth would grow.
in wild nature
The usual habitat of beavers is freshwater bodies of water that are surrounded by forests. In this case, the reservoir must be deep; if it is a river and not a lake, then the flow in it must be very slow. In many cases, these water workers build dams and thus create the necessary conditions for themselves. They work mainly at night; during the day they prefer to hole up in their underwater homes.
Beavers are staunch vegetarians; their menu consists only of woody and plant foods. In the summer, they eat leaves, buds, shoots and, of course, branches. They stock up on wood for the winter; the older couple forces the whole family to work so that in winter there is enough food for both adults and children. Since beavers take care of their young, they need to work a lot. Young people cannot take care of themselves until they live close to their parents and learn how to survive from them.
How beavers care for their young: from birth to 2 months
The mating season for beavers falls in the winter, when they have little work to do and spend most of their time in their houses. Fertilization takes place in January - February. The female carries the babies for approximately 100 days. At one time, from 1 to 6 beaver cubs are born.
The babies see perfectly, their weight is about 0.5 kilograms. They have a fluffy coat from birth. After two to three days, the beavers are already able to swim. The answer to the question of how beavers care for their young can be answered unequivocally - excellent! The beaver mother is very kind to the little ones, but at the same time she does not forget to teach them life with all the rigor. To accustom them to water, the first time she has to forcefully push the reluctant beaver cubs into the underwater corridor. But this is only for their benefit; a caring female will never cause harm to her offspring.
Until two months, the beaver, one might say, does not leave the little critters, feeds them with milk, and cleans their “fur coat.” After the babies are a month and a half old, they are gradually weaned from the breast and accustomed to regular food. First, they are given soft leaves and water lilies, in addition to this, they are also fed with mother’s milk. All family members take care of the cubs, protect them and make sure they don’t get into trouble.
How animals care for their young (beavers): from 2 months to 2 years
In the first year of life, beaver cubs are under the constant supervision of their older relatives. Growing up, they get out and, together with adults, gradually join the working rhythm of life. Young people are too curious and often find themselves in dangerous situations. Since beavers take care of their young in the most serious way, the growing offspring feel safe in the territory occupied by the family.
Before the end of the first year of life, young rodents reach a weight of about 10 kg. Until the age of two, they live with their parents in their home. A beaver family consists of a parent pair and their offspring of the current and previous year.
For two years, beaver parents have been trying to teach their children everything they will need in independent life: building dams, housing, building pantries, how to store food for the winter, and how to protect themselves from natural enemies.
At the age of two, trained young beavers must leave the family's territory. They scatter around the area in search of a couple and together with her they set up their own home.
Animals of different species care for their offspring
Most animal species care for and protect their offspring better than some careless people. You already know how animals (beavers) take care of their young. Here are some interesting facts about how parental care manifests itself in other representatives of the animal world:
Lions always accompany a lion cub on a walk, staying close to him and monitoring his every step.
. An elephant will happily adopt an abandoned or orphaned elephant calf and will take care of it no worse than its own mother.
. Every time before leaving home, the squirrel carefully wraps up its babies, since they are born completely naked.
. When there is extreme heat, a protective pigment is secreted in the milk of a female hippopotamus. A small hippopotamus feeds on reddish milk.
. If conditions for the birth of a calf are unfavorable, the female armadillo can freeze the pregnancy. The baby can be born even after 2 years.
