Nocturnal semi aquatic mammals, beavers belong to the
Castoridae family and the genus Castor. These dam making animals are the second
largest rodents in the world. Beavers live riverside building dams to create
still water for catching prey and protecting against predators. The beaver is
native to North America and Europe.
As a part of their dam building activities, beavers create
living quarters called lodges and use their engineering skills to float logs
downstream and as catchment areas for fish. The beaver use their protruding
front teeth to gnaw at trees and work through the trunk material.
The most prominent feature on a beaver is the large flat
paddle like tail used for swimming and raising the alarm. When a predator is
near, beavers dive into the water and slap their tail against the top of the
water, creating a very distinctive sound that can be heard by other beavers
over a large distance.
Beavers are, besides humans, the only animal species to
drastically alter their living environment. Their dam building and clearing of
waterways has kept many streams and rivers in a healthy condition.
In the past, beaver was a popular hat making material and
because of this the species has seen large population declines. At one time
there were 60 million beavers in existence. As of the mid 1980s, that number
had declined to somewhere around 10 million.