Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Castoridae
Genus: Castor
Species: Canadensis
Beavers are incredible creatures. Unlike most animals, they have the ability to shape their environment to ensure their comfort. Using their strong teeth and powerful jaws, beavers cut down nearby trees. They take these new logs and branches and bind them together with mud to create dams and lodges. Dams are piles of logs and sticks that change the flow of water in rivers and streams. This change can turn entire forests and meadows into ponds. In the middle of these ponds, beavers build their homes, called lodges. Made of sticks, logs and mud, these dome-shaped lodges have underwater entrances to keep the small beaver families safe.
• Beavers are rodents.
• They are clumsy on land but very fast and graceful in the water.
• They have webbed rear feet.
• They can stay under water for 15 minutes.
• They have a set of clear eyelids that act like goggles while they swim underwater.
• Beavers eat wood and plants that grow in ponds.
• Adult beavers are around 3 feet long.
• On average they live 24 years in the wild.
• Beavers are the national animal of Canada.
• They have poor eyesight, but their other senses are very sensitive.
Another feature of the beaver is its fur. It is naturally water resistant, soft, tough and very warm. For early American settlers it was incredibly valuable, and in Europe the fur was popular to use as clothing. A common use for beaver pelts was to have it made into hats. Selling the valuable and plentiful beaver pelts became an important part of the early colonies’ economy. The North American beavers were caught in the colonies and then sold overseas. They often ended up in France and Europe.
