Intro.

When you think of a Beaver, You think of the one that is so famous in the eyes of many people around the world. And that is the American Beaver. If you think of a Beaver in America, you are thinking about the North American beaver. This is because of the fame that this animal has collected over the years.

Beavers in general live in swamps and wetlands since the reeds help with hiding their homes. Beavers are the second largest rodent in the world the only thing that beats the beaver in size is the Capybara, yes the beaver is related to the animal known as the mouse. They do look a little like a mouse.

“American Beaver” by Steve from washington, dc, usa is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

This is a very long explanation of the of this importance of this unusual animal and the part it holds in the world along with the history of the species on this planet. 

Origins.

One of this species’s earliest known existence is in North America. Where The local Natives hunted them while making sure that there were enough left to not endanger the species. Meanwhile, While the Native Americans were taking care of the beavers and taking only when needed, The Europeans were running out since they were hunted to near extinction in Europe.

When Henry Hudson “Discovered” North America, some companies took a lot of interest. They knew that if they could set up a colony, they could manipulate the fur trade which was used as currency as well as making hats made of Beaver pelt and waterproof.

The Beaver pelt colonies were a huge success, with the colonies having both a separate leader and a director general, which proved helpful but also efficient in rapidly declining the beaver population in America. The largest of these colonies became what is now known as New Amsterdam, Which is naw known as the tip of manhattan.

This photo is by Gloryrules, the writer of this blog.

These colonies were created by advertising a paradise to live in. But some people were drunk lay put on the ships, and some were not able to afford the journey then the captain or somebody who was rich would indenture them. Meaning that they were hired for usually 6-7 years to work as a servant. If it was the captain who hired them them they would be “Sold” When they reached The colonies and if they were already bought then they would be picked up.

This photo is by the author.

Biology.

Now, The Beaver is actually the only other Animal that is able to make huge impacts on nature other than us humans, which is, as you probably know, is a whole new lake or even a whole new waterway or river depending on where they put the dams. They are very important, As well as being what is known as a keystone species in the ecosystem, Which means that is provides a major resource which in this case is a home, food, and shelter. Along with transforming dry deserts into swamps and wetlands within a decade depending on persistence initial conditions of the desert that they are transforming along with vegetation and the availability of a water source, Beavers are amazing at also being adorable and efficient in many ways. They have iron in their tooth Enamel, which is the hard outer layer of our teeth. This gives the beavers their orange teeth color that some of us know the beaver for. By the way the reason the beavers teeth are so hard is so that they do not break their teeth when chewing on wood. (Even we have some copper in our blood!)

“North American Beaver” by AcrylicArtist is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

More HISTORY.

Some people killed Beavers for flooding houses by blocking off nearby water streams and creating ponds but even if you destroy a dam, a Beaver can make a whole new dam in a single night. Beavers also continuously add on to their little lodges as long as they can since they do not move a lot and usually mate their whole lives unless their mate accidentally dies. The kits stay with them for two years to take care of their siblings.

 They have two to four kits at a time, As they also show their children how to build dams by making their children watch them work. Beavers eat vegetation as well as the inside part of trees where the nutrients flow through. Sometimes they even saw off branches and place them in the water so that the cold winter will keep preserving it so the Beavers can still eat the leaves from underwater.

“Beaver Lodge” by GrandTetonNPS is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

A day in the life of the American Beaver.

The daily life of the American beaver is centered around work, family, and survival. Most active during the evening and night hours, beavers spend much of their time sprucing up and maintaining their dams and lodges, cutting down trees with their powerful teeth that I already mentioned and gathering food to survive. They often travel along well-worn water paths they’ve created over a days or weeks depending on how many family members use them, and when they go through they are usually dragging branches back to their homes to use as building materials or to add to their underwater food stash. These roads are called Beaver trails or Beaver runs.

“American beaver” by Marie Hale is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Home sweet home.

Their only entrance to their lodge is in the water where only an Otter, the Beavers main enemy can reach in. Since an otter is agile and slippery and can twist and turn they can get into the beavers homes. They sometimes attack the babies called pups and the otter (Usually a river otter) may even eat the pups. While it is not usually the otters main diet they do eat beaver babies, this makes the parent’s worst enemy the otter. Otters also eat small mammals like muskrats and even juvenile beavers which are basically teenage beavers. But beaver’s predator s are not always otters, Coyotes, Cougars, Bears, Wolverines, Lynx’s, Foxes, And bobcats do attack the Beavers along with raptors and some other birds of prey. But foxes and otters with birds of prey usually only prey on pups (Also known as kits or sometimes even kittens) and do not necessarily eat the adults a lot either.

“American Beaver, tree cutting” by D. Gordon E. Robertsonis licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Signs.

Beavers slap their tails in the water when they sense danger. It’s not always a predator that eats the beavers either. Sometimes it’s a moose, also a predator of their underwater plant and water plant storage, If they get eaten they might not have enough to last the winter. But the warning call or slap to send the beavers diving underwater is not the beavers tail’s only use It is also used to slap mud into cracks in the dams, lodges and other places that they need to patch up. Their tail is a very useful tool!

“American Beaver with dam” by Chiswick Chap; uncropped image Marcin Klapczynski is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Biological family.

The American Beaver and Beavers in general are the second biggest animal in the rodent family after the capybara, And as you may know have a big, flat tail that kind of looks like a waffle and has orange teeth that have iron embedded in them like we humans have copper in our blood, otherwise, their teeth would break when chewing wood. Beavers leave pointy shapes on the sumps of wood they chew on.

This photo is from Gloryrules.

These animals are so cool! I hope you enjoyed this post and learned about The American beavers and support them now as they may face hardships in the future, We should all play a part in conserving nature so that we can all enjoy Nature’s gifts, for the present and the future generations and people to come! Thank you and hope to see you soon!

— Gloryrules!