The common beaver is a hardworking builder. Description and photo of the common beaver. What do beavers eat in the river? Beavers live in burrows.

When it comes to talking about beavers, a river miracle with huge, yellow, sharp teeth that can chew through anything immediately appears before your eyes. These animals are indeed very toothy, but in nature they bring great benefits precisely thanks to their tireless jaws. Everyone knows that the beaver is a born builder. He is an example of perseverance and hard work. It was from these workers that people learned experience that was useful in the construction of dams. Sometimes there is something to learn from our smaller brothers. How does a beaver live, what does it eat, and how does it build its unique structures? You will learn about all this by reading the article.

The largest rodent

Nowadays, there are two species in nature and the European one. The differences between them are small, except that the European one is slightly smaller than the Canadian one. A long time ago, about 5 million years ago, beavers could measure their strength even with the owner of the forest himself - the bear. The huge ancestors of today's rodents have gone extinct, and today's dam builders are much smaller in size than their great-grandfathers.

An adult male beaver weighs approximately 20-25 kg, some bogatyrs reach a weight of 45 kg, and their length reaches 1.2 meters. The delightful tail occupies 15-20 cm, its width is almost equal to its length. This tail also plays an important role as a keel - with its help, the furry swimmer regulates the depth of immersion in the water. The beaver's completely transparent eyelids allow it to see everything underwater and navigate perfectly there.

There is something else interesting in the appearance of rodents: the claw on the thumb is split into two halves - this is a gift from nature so that the animals have the opportunity to comb their fur. Continuing the conversation about limbs, I would like to note that they help beavers swim well. The hind legs are webbed, the same kind of membranes that ducks have. Thanks to them, swimmers can reach speeds of up to 10 km/h. The front paws are relatively small, without membranes, and equipped with impressive, powerful claws that can easily dig the ground. The front paws also act as hands - animals use them to carry clay and branches.

Beautiful thick fur and a thick layer of fat under the skin protect beavers from the cold. The animals carefully look after their fur coat, combing it with a natural comb. Thanks to the oily liquid secreted by special glands, this wonderful fur does not get wet.

Animals' teeth grow throughout their lives, and if they are not regularly ground down on wood, they will reach unprecedented sizes.

The life of beavers in nature is full of dangers. Its duration is on average 13-15 years. In captivity they live 2-3 times longer.

All those animals that neighbor beavers entrust them with the mission of preserving and, if necessary, saving water and adjacent forest lands. It turns out that with their work, furry builders care not only about their well-being - the peace of their neighbors also depends on them.

The sound of flowing water awakens the beavers' passion for construction, and they begin to act. They can build for days - day and night; it is impossible to find more hardworking workers. Beavers begin to develop new aquatic territory according to a plan developed over the years:

1. A dam is being built that will turn the stream into a cozy and quiet pond.
2. A system of canals is created to expand the holdings.
3. A huge storage room is being built.
4. A huge, multi-room house more than 1 meter high is being built. The walls of the house are built half a meter thick.

After just one week, the house is ready, the entrances are under water to protect the home from enemies. When a beaver works at a “sawmill”, harvesting wood, he is at risk. A tree can fall and crush a beaver, so only one goes for building materials, and at the same time for food, the rest of the family members are busy with other household chores. Good for these lumberjacks! After all, what does a beaver eat? Yes, with what they build their dams from. It is important to obtain building material, but food supplies for a family of rodents also need to be very large.

Faithful spouses and caring parents

Loyalty and devotion reign in the family of furry rodents. They do everything together throughout their lives, wisely distributing work among all family members. Young people can live with their parents for up to two years, after which the children must go to build their own home, trying to find a mate during their wanderings.

A mother beaver gives birth to a litter of 3 to 4 cubs weighing 0.5 kg each. Babies are born complete copies of their parents, only small. They are already wearing coats with big teeth and adorable tails. After two weeks, future lumberjacks are already gnawing on solid food. What the older beaver eats, the younger one also eats. One can only envy the family idyll in water houses!

The main menu of these hard-working rodents is herbaceous plants. What a beaver eats is often shown in cartoons. In most cases, we see on screens how these animals eat fish. This is not true - aquatic animals do not eat such food. They spend a lot of energy felling trees; they need to be replenished somehow in order to withstand such a load. And it’s definitely not fish that helps them with this!

What do beavers eat in the wild, and what are their favorite dishes? It is clearer than clear that this is a tree. Favorite delicacies are twigs of alder, aspen, and willow. A beaver eats up to 1 kg of wood per day. Bark, the woody pulp under the bark, is the best food for critters. They chew small twigs whole, like candy.

Such hard foods are difficult to chew and even more difficult to digest. The beaver's food system is quite ready for this work.

In winter time

How do water workers behave in the cold season, because water bodies freeze and everything around is covered in snow? It’s hard for them, but if you prepare well for the winter, then the frosts won’t be scary. The beaver sleeps most of the time in winter. But in order to sleep peacefully and on a full stomach, one family needs to prepare more than a ton of branches for the winter.

It is very cozy in a beaver hut, insulated for the winter. It’s only when the food runs out that the head of the family has to go fishing.

The body of beavers is adapted for swimming, and not for plowing snow, so they have a very difficult time in the cold and in snowdrifts. Therefore, they are making every effort to ensure that the reserves last until the weather warms up.

Curious facts

The life of beavers is very interesting; there are many interesting things in their way of life:

1. Furry swimmers cover a distance of 700 meters underwater in 10-15 minutes.
2. In just one night, a beaver can fell and clear a tree with a diameter of 30-40 cm.
3. Territory of 3 square meters. km can be inhabited by just one family of beavers.
4. The largest beaver dam built is 700 m long, which is a world record. Although in the state of New Hampshire there is a larger dam - 1.2 km.
5. In the city of Bobruisk there are two monuments to beavers, which is not surprising if you pay attention to the name of the city.

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 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.

There are two types of beavers in nature: ordinary beaver and Canadian. The first species lives in Eurasia, the second in North America. These animals have close family ties with squirrels. Certain structural similarities between the lower jaw and the skull indicate commonality. At the same time, the behavior of these representatives of the rodent order varies significantly. The beaver lives only near water. She is his native element. It cannot exist in any other environment. This applies to both Canadian and Eurasian animals. Both species have certain differences, and it is not for nothing that they were separated into separate populations.

Differences between Canadian and common beavers

Externally, representatives of two different species are very similar to each other. But Eurasian beaver is larger. He has a larger and less rounded head. The muzzle is more graceful, so to speak, and shorter. The undercoat is shorter and the tail is narrower than that of the Canadian. The limbs are shorter, so the Eurasian is less adapted to walking on its hind legs. Common beavers have longer nasal bones. The nasal openings are triangular in shape. For Canadians it is oval. The anal glands of the Eurasian are larger. The color of the fur also varies.

Almost 70% of common beavers have brown or light brown fur. Chestnut shade is present in 20% of Eurasians. Dark brown has 8%, and pure black only 4%. Among Canadians, half of all beavers sport light brown skins. 25% boasts a reddish-brown tint. Brown skins are worn by 20%, and black by the remaining 5%.

The two species differ in the number of chromosomes. Canadians have 40, and Eurasians have 48. Despite this, people have made many attempts to crossbreed representatives of different continents. Moreover, the females were from Europe, and the males were from America. As a result, females either did not give birth at all or gave birth to dead cubs. From this we can conclude that interspecific reproduction is impossible. These populations are separated from each other not only by thousands of kilometers of ocean surface, but also by DNA features.

Beaver sizes and appearance

In beavers, females are larger than males. They dominate over males. The Canadian beaver weighs from 15 to 35 kg. The usual weight is 20 kg with a body length of about 1 meter. These animals grow throughout their lives, so old beavers can reach a weight of 45 kg. The common or Eurasian beaver has a body weight of 30-32 kg with a body length of 1-1.3 meters. The usual body height is 35 cm.

The animals' bodies are squat.

BEAVER FOOD

There are 5 fingers on the limbs. There are membranes between them. The claws are flat. The tail is shaped like an oar. Its length does not exceed 30 cm. It is usually 10-12 cm wide. There is no hair on the tail. It is covered with horny plates, between which sparse hairs emerge. In the middle of the tail, a horny protrusion stretches along its entire length, reminiscent of a ship’s keel. The ears are short, the eyes are small. The undercoat is dense, the guard hairs are coarse. The fur is beautiful, practical and in commercial demand.

Reproduction and lifespan

Beavers mate for life. Only death can separate the betrothed. The mating season occurs in winter. Mating occurs in water. The gestation period for the common beaver is 107 days, for the Canadian beaver it is 128 days. There are from 2 to 6 cubs in a litter. Their usual weight reaches 400 grams. Milk feeding lasts 3 months. Babies begin to swim a week after birth. In males, puberty occurs at 3 years. Most females also at 3 years old. Every fifth female is capable of reproducing offspring at 2 years. The lifespan of beavers in nature is 20-25 years. In favorable conditions, the animal lives up to 35 years.

Behavior and nutrition

The beaver is a herbivore. He eats sedge and water lilies with pleasure. It gnaws the bark of aspen, poplar, willow, alder, birch, and maple. But, in any case, young shoots tempt him more. At first glance, it may seem that these rodents cause irreparable harm to the environment. But this is a mistaken opinion. Animals bring undoubted benefits to the ecosystem by creating wetlands. They are simply necessary for many other species of animals.

Beavers cut down trees, but not just anywhere, but in certain places, from which it is very convenient to drag heavy trunks to the river. The animals gnaw the bark, branches, and leaves, and the trunks are used to build a dam. It is thanks to this that dams are created. Various insects settle in them, thereby attracting numerous species of birds. Birds bring fish eggs on their feathers and legs. Thus, fish appear in the dams.

Water, in turn, seeping through such structures is cleared of heavy suspended matter and silt. Many plants die in dams. That is, a large amount of dead wood appears. It is necessary for certain types of animals and plants. Trees damaged by beavers also serve as food for ungulates. That is, nature only benefits from the activities of rodents, but humans lose. The created dams can overflow and destroy crops, as well as erode highways and railway embankments.

The construction of dams by beavers is a different matter. These amazing rodents live in burrows or special “houses” that they make themselves. Burrows are dug in steep banks. They are long and represent a whole labyrinth with several entrances. The floor in such burrows is slightly above the water level. If the river floods, the animals scrape the earth from the ceiling and thus “raise” the floor.

In addition to burrows, beavers build “houses.” In the shallows, they collect dry tree branches in a heap and cover them with clay, earth and silt. A free space is created inside the heap, rising above the water. It is entered from under the water. The height of such a structure reaches 3 meters and the diameter is 10 meters. The walls of the “house” are very strong. They serve as excellent protection against predatory animals. When constructing their homes, animals work with their front paws. In preparation for cold weather, an additional layer of clay and earth is placed on the walls. Therefore, during the winter months, such structures always maintain above-zero temperatures, and the water in the manholes does not freeze. Beavers maintain perfect order in their homes. There is never any food waste or excrement in them.

The beaver is a social animal, so all rodents form families. Usually there are up to 10 individuals in one family. These are married couples and young animals that have not yet reached puberty. One family can live on the same plot for a whole century. The length of such a plot of land along the coast reaches 3-4 km. Rodents rarely move more than 200-300 meters from the shore. Their whole life is connected with the river. There are also solitary beavers - these are young, sexually mature bachelors who have just left their family. They live in burrows and eventually start a family.

Dam construction

Why do beavers build dams?? So that they have more water. Very often, a family of beavers takes a liking to a small stream or small river. To raise the water level, rodents build dams. As a result, the river turns into a small lake, and for animals this is a real haven. In the water they mate, enter their homes and, naturally, protect their lives from predatory animals. A beaver can stay under water for a maximum of 15 minutes. In case of obvious danger, such results of scuba diving are very helpful for rodents.

First, the beavers decide on the construction site. Preference is given to those places where the opposite banks are separated from each other at the shortest distance. The presence of trees near the shore also plays an important role. This is the main building material. The animals stick the gnawed trunks vertically into the river bottom. Large stones are placed between them and covered with silt. Branches are piled on the above-water part. They are held together with clay. It turns out to be a very strong structure.

The length of the dam can reach up to 30 meters. At the base it is wider, about 5-6 meters. It narrows with height. At the very top the dam reaches a width of 2 meters. The height can be 3, 4, or 5 meters. History knows of cases where beavers built dams 500 and even 850 meters long. In case of strong currents, additional dams are built and special drains are made so that the structure does not collapse when the river floods. Rodents constantly monitor the condition of the dam. Minor leaks and damage are immediately repaired.

Beaver population

As for the number of Canadian beavers, there were once about 100 million of them in North America. By the end of the 19th century, rodents were almost completely exterminated. From a huge population, only pitiful crumbs remained. By the beginning of the 20th century, bans on catching these animals were introduced. Today there are more than 10 million rodents in America. In Eurasia the situation was even worse. At the beginning of the 20th century, approximately 1,200 poor animals lived in vast territories. After 100 years, thanks to the bans, their number increased to 700 thousand. In most European countries, the common beaver has received a rebirth, since in these regions it was exterminated back in the 17th-19th centuries.

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River beaver and beaver settlements. What do beavers eat? Beaver hunting

June 27, 2011 Hunting and fishing, Fur animals, Rodents

The river beaver is a very peculiar and unusual animal.. It is a fur-bearing animal: its shiny fur is in great demand on the market. The life routine of the river beaver can only be envied - it adheres to a very strict regime and hierarchy, so hunting for beaver requires increased attentiveness and self-discipline.

The fur color of the river beaver is very diverse and varies from completely black to brownish-sandy. Beaver shedding begins in the spring and continues until the very end of autumn. During this entire period, the color of the fur does not change - it only acquires new qualities, becoming beautiful, silky, dense. On the tail, hair is practically absent and is found only at its base, since it is covered with large horny scutes. The river beaver has small eyes and wide short ears that almost do not protrude above the level of the fur.

Beaver dams and beaver colonies

Although the beaver is essentially considered a forest dweller, in fact, it has absolutely no need for a solid mass of trees: the presence of shrub vegetation near the shores of reservoirs is much more important. Most often, the beaver settles along the coastline of forest streams and rivers, along ponds and forest lakes, and near river oxbows. At the same time, the beaver tries to avoid fast streams and prefers relatively calm areas. The location for building huts is chosen taking into account the convenience of the banks and their frost-free nature in winter. Beaver settlements are especially numerous in forest-meadow regions China, Mongolia, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk Territory, in the Baikal region, Kuzbass, in the upper part of the Yenisei River, as well as throughout Europe. The beaver greatly values ​​family relationships. Usually one beaver family occupies an entire lake or pond, but sometimes there are single individuals that do not allow anyone near their own property. In general, the river beaver feels very good in water: little beavers learn to swim on the second day after birth, and after a year or two they leave the family. This often happens in the spring. In nature, beavers live a very long time - from 20 to 23 years.

The area on the river chosen by the beavers is about 300-400 meters, occasionally reaching 3 kilometers in length. It depends on the nutritional value of the coastal bushes. Beaver settlements are located chaotically: they can be layered on top of each other, touching along the border, or located at some distance from their neighbors. If the depth of the stream leaves much to be desired, river beavers create dams suitable for habitation, on which a settlement is subsequently established. The beaver dam reaches a height of 1-1.5 meters and a length of about 150 meters., consists of silt, grass, branches and stumps of trunks and is capable of supporting the weight of an adult. If there are stones at the bottom of the reservoir, they are also used as a building material. Settlements are used year-round if there is no shortage of food nearby. Otherwise, the family moves upstream together.

River beaver. What do beavers eat?

As soon as summer comes, beavers come out of their huts and burrows at dusk and work for up to 4-6 hours until the sun rises. Autumn is the time to prepare twig food reserves, so the working day of river beavers increases from 10 to 12 hours a day. Beavers are least active in the winter: they occasionally make short journeys under the ice for food, which are limited to openings in the ice, huts and burrows, that is, those places where a beaver can climb to the surface and breathe.

River beavers feed on fresh bark and young shoots.

What do beavers eat?

The most in demand are alder, bird cherry, oak, elm, linden, hazel and birch. River beavers can fell trees larger than one meter in diameter. To do this, beavers gnaw at a massive trunk at its very base.

Beaver hunting

For that, to start beaver hunting, you need to know the life schedule of the river beaver and its exact habitats, since beavers are predominantly crepuscular animals that build themselves not only dams and huts, but semi-huts, and make burrows, depending on the area where they search for food. But occasionally beavers can also be seen during the day. To hunt beaver from the approach in the daytime (that is, when approaching on foot and with a gun), you should arrive at the reservoir around 15:00 and stay there until dusk, all the time carefully moving along the coastline - absolutely slowly, looking closely at everything, making stops and finding out if anyone is swimming up.

However, peak activity in beavers occurs at night, starting at dusk (at approximately 6 p.m.) and continuing until dawn. The first to appear are usually the younger river beavers—one-and-a-half-year-olds and fingerlings. Adult beavers are more vigilant and careful, so they come out a little later, under the cover of darkness. The male always swims out first. Coming out, he “gives the go-ahead” for the rest of the family to appear, loudly splashing the water with his powerful tail. This is a sign for the hunter to be more attentive and concentrated, as the prey begins to emerge from the holes. Such slaps can be heard quite well, spreading 200 meters around and serving as a guide for the shooter to the exact location of the beaver settlement.

Most a suitable place for hunting beavers from ambush is close to the beavers’ habitation, having discovered which it is necessary to find the most optimal point for viewing. It should be taken into account that the river beaver chooses the highest bank, which is not flooded during the flood period, as the main place of settlement. It also digs holes in the deepest part of a water source - if it is small (a forest stream, for example, or a shallow pond). Consequently, holes and pools in rivers are also frequent areas for beaver settlement. At the moment of hiding, you need to listen carefully to the noises, because often they may not be the splashing of fish or the usual crackling of dead wood, but echoes of the vital activity of river beavers. Gurgling, crunching of branches, falling of a sharpened tree, gnawing - all this indicates that the beaver is somewhere nearby and may be available for a shot. If possible, aim in such a way as to cause less harm to the beaver's skin. A volley is only made with certainty, because frightened beavers prefer to sit in a hole, not appearing in a dangerous place for a long time.

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Common beaver - nutrition and reproduction

Nutrition

The beaver eats plant foods. Its intestines are 12 times longer than the body, have a well-developed cecum and are adapted to digest roughage. In the pyloric section of the beaver's stomach there is a sinus gland, which, along with microorganisms, promotes the digestion of wood. An acidic environment forms in the stomach, so in winter a significant part of the daily diet can consist of wood. The gland begins to function immediately after the animal switches to independent feeding on plant foods. Such a gland is also found in koalas and wombats.

The number of plant species eaten and the quality of food vary depending on local conditions and seasons. In summer, the importance of green feed increases and the number of species used increases. The beaver's diet of herbaceous plants is dominated by hydrophytes and hygrophytes, and of trees and shrubs - soft species, primarily aspen, willow, and poplar. The rodent uses more than 200 species of plants for food; in the Voronezh Nature Reserve the consumption of 152 species is recorded, but the list of main food plants is small.

Remains of a beaver meal. Young branches are eaten. Photo: Wsiegmund

From about mid-September, beavers begin to feed mainly on the bark and branches of deciduous trees and shrubs; in some areas, eating of bark and needles of pine, cedar, spruce, and fir has been observed; Aquatic and coastal grasses serve as additional food. The transition to feeding on bark is to some extent associated with an increase in its nutritional properties. After water bodies freeze, coastal herbaceous vegetation is almost completely excluded from the diet. In early spring, animals feed mainly on bark and branches. Later, beavers switch to feeding on leaves and young shoots of trees and shrubs, stems, flowers and other parts of aquatic and coastal herbaceous species. An ecological and biochemical assessment of food showed that during the breeding season, aspen bark and shoots, as well as wintering pickles of aquatic plants, are the most biologically valuable for the river beaver.

The maximum daily dynamics of the biological value of natural plant foods coincide with the maximum food activity of beavers in nature, which may be a consequence of the evolutionarily fixed adaptation of the circadian rhythms of the activity of wild animals to daily fluctuations in the nutritional value of their food.

With powerful incisors, the beaver gnaws trees at a height of 25-35 cm (and higher in winter if there is snow) and knocks them down to the ground or into the water. The stumps have a cone-shaped cut. It often “cuts down” thick trees with a diameter of several tens of centimeters. For example, in Germany, a poplar felled by beavers with a diameter of about 2 m was discovered; in the Bryansk region, felled oaks up to 80 cm thick were found (Fadeev, 1973). The beaver cuts downed trees into pieces of varying lengths (from about 30 to 300 cm). He floats these “logs”, as well as branches, on the water or carries (in his teeth) silt to his home and to the dam, using them as building material, and eats the bark and branches. Sometimes, without gnawing the tree into pieces, it uses the edible parts on the spot.

In the fall, beavers begin to harvest wood food - tree stumps, branches, egg capsule rhizomes and other aquatic plants. The feed warehouse is located near the home. In cold water for several winter months the food retains its nutritional qualities. Warehouses are often very large; Thus, in Belarus, warehouses of vines up to 20 m were found, and in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, more than 100 m3 (in a loose mass) were found in one settlement. Sometimes the beaver gets to the fallen trees left on the shore through snow tunnels. If there is sufficient food near the home, beavers do not stock up.

At the end of autumn, tree felling increases noticeably. For example, in one settlement in the Arkhangelsk region, two families felled 199 trees from May to October, of which 116, or 58%, fell in October. The beaver has developed caprophagy - eating its own feces (usually during the daytime rest).

Features of reproduction

Sexual maturity occurs at the age of 2-3 years, and in captivity - at one and a half years. Beavers are usually monogamous; partners can be of different ages; a case was described when the male was 15 years older than the female (Kudryashov, 1973). There is one litter per year (experimentally, on a farm in the Voronezh Nature Reserve, two litters were obtained from one female per year). Not all sexually mature females participate in reproduction. Thus, in the Voronezh Nature Reserve up to 36% of individuals remain single, in the Ryazan region - 27%, and in Belarus - 10%.

105-107 days.

Beavers are hardworking river engineers

The number of cubs in a brood is 1-6, their average number is close to 3. Newborns are sighted, well pubescent, their size is about 25 cm and their average weight is 500 g. After a day or two, the young can swim. Feeding with milk lasts about 2 months, but beavers already at the age of 3-4 weeks begin to eat green food. Adult males do not take part in raising the young, and usually during this period they, as well as yearlings, leave the family home.

In the spring, families disintegrate, and an adult female with young usually remains in the main nest.

Beavers are long-lived. There is a known case when he lived in captivity for 35 years, and a 21-year-old female living in the wild gave birth.

There is only one molt. The formation of winter fur is protracted; November skins differ little from winter ones in terms of thickness and softness of hair.

Common beaver

BEAVER FOOD

The beaver is a characteristic herbivorous rodent, eating both herbaceous and woody food, both terrestrial and semi-aquatic and aquatic plants. Beavers actively forage for food throughout the year. In summer, beavers feed mainly on herbaceous plants, first eating leaves, tops of shoots, and then stems, and in others, even roots. There were cases when beavers robbed gardens, eating vegetables. From the woody vegetation at this time, beavers eat young tree shoots and the bark of trees fallen in the fall.

Beavers eat plants that grow close to their settlements. Hiking further than 100 meters occurs only in the autumn during the preparation of feed.

Perhaps the most favorite “dish” of beavers are young willow branches, less so - aspen and bird cherry, which beavers cut at a height of approximately 20-25 centimeters from the base and transport in bunches to the entrance to the dwelling. There, the branches are immersed in water with the cut end towards the ground and crushed into the bottom of the reservoir. Up to 2 cubic meters of wood are stored in this way. In winter, when there is ice on the reservoir, beavers will be able to feed under the ice without coming to the surface. Animals drag the branches of the willow into the hole and gnaw the bark there. Often in winter you can hear a typical crunching sound in a beaver’s home.

In autumn, beavers also harvest larger branches, dragging them from fallen trees closer to their homes; for this reason, it is not just that they first stock up on food close to their homes, and as nearby trees are exploited, food is obtained further upstream. The sizes of the trees are not significant. Another thing is that the thinner ones are used more fully: the beavers eat the thinnest branches on the spot, transport the middle ones to the dwelling, the thick trunks gnaw off the non-robed bark at the harvest site, and some of them are simply thrown away.

Transportation of feed is carried out in different ways. If the river is close, then the creature, holding the thick end of the branch with its teeth, backs away to the water, and if the harvesting site is far from the reservoir, the beaver drags the branch along the ground, holding it to the side. During autumn harvesting, up to 30 cubic meters of wood are stored. The whole family takes part in cutting the wood: young, old and animals. Beavers are capable of not making reserves if the reservoir is rich in aquatic vegetation.

BEAVER HUNT

There is a lot of controversy today regarding the use of a gun in beaver hunting. Naturally, there have always existed, are and will exist 2 categories of hunters: those who live READ MORE

CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY OF BEAVER

Much has been written about the amazing building ability of beavers. It is not easy to find another similar species of animal that would not only build a home for itself, but would also adapt and change its surroundings. READ MORE

BEAVER REPRODUCTION

Sexual maturity of European beavers occurs in the third year of life. The rut has been running since the end of Feb. until the end of March.. Beavers leave their winter shelters, swim in wormwood, wander through the snow and READ MORE

Beaver hair

The entire body of a beaver, except for the tail, nose and feet, is covered with fur. The fur color varies from light dark brown to dark. Previously in the Russian Federation, the color of beaver pelts was divided into red, black-brown, READ MORE

HABITAT OF THE RIVER BEAVER

The prevailing opinion about the pickiness of beavers regarding living conditions and food is called into question when looking at its habitat. First of all, we note that the beaver is an inhabitant of the Northern READ MORE

BEAVER

BEAVER (Castor fiber) is well known to many. Its body length reaches 1 meter, and its weight is 30 kilograms. In the middle of the tail, a hard horny keel stretches over the top. M/s with horny plates on the tail READ MORE Our site was created for those who want to gain knowledge.
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Common beaver (Castor fiber)

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Beavers live only near rivers or lakes. The beaver dam is a unique structure that no other animal can build. They are real masters in this matter! The longest dam built by beavers was 850 meters long.

There are currently two types of beavers: European and Canadian. They are very similar to each other, except that the Canadian beaver is slightly larger.

Beavers were once common throughout North America, Europe and northern Asia, but the population has now declined significantly. The fault lies with the man who hunted these cute animals for their meat and fur.

In recent years, the beaver population in Canada and Europe has been more or less stable, so no measures have been taken to protect them.

Where do beavers live?

Beavers live mainly in deciduous forests, on the banks of rivers or lakes. The depth of streams and ponds should be large enough so as not to dry out during the summer drought, and not to freeze to the bottom in winter. On land, beavers move awkwardly. In the water they are fast and agile.

Beavers are the only animals that can control the water level in the river. If the water flow fluctuates, beaver dams become necessary. Thanks to the beaver dam, the family is always out of reach of predators.

Beavers build their beaver dams primarily from shrubs, branches, and young tree trunks. This allows them to also grind down their teeth. When the house is ready, the beavers seal them with silt or clay. Typically, a beaver dam is between 10 and 100 meters long. Sometimes the length of the dam reaches 500 meters.

The longest beaver dam in the world is located in a national park in the Canadian province of Alberta. Its length is 850 meters! The age of the dam is estimated at 40 years (in the early 70s of the twentieth century).

Together with the beaver dam, the beaver builds a so-called hut. These houses made of branches and clay are surrounded by water and are usually found in difficult to reach areas. Residential houses are located above ground, but the entrance to them is hidden under water. The hut can reach 12 meters in diameter and weigh from 1 to 3 feet.

There are three known species of beavers - two are living today, and one is considered extinct:

• The common beaver exists.
• Canadian beaver exists.
• The giant beaver (Castoroides ohioensis) is an extinct species.

Giant beavers lived in North America. This species became extinct 10 thousand years ago. years ago. They may have been the largest rodent species in Earth's history. On average they reached the following sizes:

• length: 2.5 m;
• height: 1 m;
• weight: 220 kg.

Dimensions of the common beaver:

• length: 70-100 cm
• tail length: up to 28 cm
• tail width: slightly narrower than the Canadian beaver
• weight: 15-30 kg (record 31.7 kg)
• average lifespan: 10-16 years (up to 50 years in captivity)
• protected

Canadian/American beaver sizes:

• length: 90-117 cm
• tail length: up to 20-25 cm
• tail width: 13-15 cm
• weight: 15-32 kg
• average lifespan: 10-19 years (up to 50 years in captivity)
• population: 10-15 million
• not protected

Beavers have teeth that grow throughout their lives, so they must chew on trees regularly.

The common beaver is a large and semi-aquatic animal that belongs to the order Rodents. The second name of the beaver is “river beaver”. This creature surprises people with its skills and abilities: the creature is capable of excellent construction, and it is also a good owner and family partner. The beaver ranks second in size among Rodents from all over the world. To get to know this creature better, you can look at the photos that are scattered on the Internet.

The main features of the appearance of the animal

Before we begin to characterize the appearance of the animal, it is worth noting one fact. People most often, when they say the words beaver and beaver, mean the same meaning. But it is worth remembering that these are completely two different words and they are used in different meanings. So, a beaver is a living creature itself, and a beaver is the animal’s fur:

Beavers can camouflage well with their discreet fur colors. Thus, the fur color of a representative of beavers has a light chestnut or dark brown tint, in some cases it can be black. The rodent's tail and paws are painted black. The beaver's tail has special wen, as well as specialized glands.

Thus, experts call the bad-smelling substance that is formed from the tail glands of the common beaver beaver stream. The secret of wen has all the information about the rodent, carries information about his age, as well as gender. The main mark that warns other individuals about the border of the beaver's territory is the smell of the beaver stream, which smells completely differently for each individual individual. The lifespan of a common beaver in natural conditions is about 15 years.

Photos of beavers

Where do beavers live?

These creatures prefer to live in Europe (Scandinavian countries), in France (in the lower reaches of the Rhone River), in Germany (on the Elbe River), and also in Poland (along the banks of the Vistula River). Rodents also live in forest or forest-steppe regions of the European part of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.

On the territory of Russia, the common beaver can be found in the Northern Trans-Urals. Beavers live in separate groups in the upper reaches of the Yenisei River, in Kuzbass (Kemerovo region), in Khabarovsk Territory, in the Tomsk region, Kamchatka and the Baikal region. In addition, the animal can easily be found in Mongolia or Northwestern China.

Rodents live with a special device that helps them lead a semi-aquatic lifestyle. Underwater, the creature's ear openings and nostrils close tightly. Also, special nictitating membranes are shifted to the eyes, thanks to which the beaver can clearly look around under water. The animal's mouth is formed in such a way that excess water cannot enter it while the animal is diligently swimming under the surface of the water. The function of controlling the coordination of movement under water is performed by the tail of the animal.

When choosing a place for further residence, beavers prefer to occupy the territories of the banks of calm, quiet rivers, lakes, reservoirs, as well as various ponds. Rodents do not settle in places where rivers flow quickly or where rivers are excessively wide. Beavers also avoid bodies of water, which freeze to the very bottom in winter. For ordinary beavers It is important to have plenty of softwood and deciduous trees nearby, as well as aquatic, herbaceous and shrubby grass in the bank areas and within the river itself.

Beavers are excellent swimmers and divers. With the help of its uniquely designed lungs, the animal can stay under water for about 15 minutes and during this time swim a distance of 750 meters. It is for this reason that rodents feel more comfortable underwater compared to the surface of the earth.

What do beavers eat in the wild?

Beavers are predominantly vegetarian in their diet and belong to the plant type of mammals. Beavers rely on tree shoots and bark to feed on them. Beavers love to eat poplar, aspen, birch or willow. Beavers are also not averse to eating herbaceous plants: reeds, cattails, water lilies, iris, the list goes on for a very long time.

What do beavers eat? These animals need a large number of softwood trees for food and living. Bird cherry, elm, linden, hazel and other trees are important for the diet of rodents. Trees such as oak and alder are not usually consumed by animals, but well used in their buildings and structures. But the rodent will never refuse to eat acorns. Strong and large teeth easily cope with tree food. Most often, rodents use only a few tree species located nearby as food.

In the summer season, the amount of herbal food for the animal increases comparatively. In the autumn, all beavers begin to carefully prepare woody food for the winter. Throughout the winter, beavers consume mainly food stored in advance. Beavers place them in water so that the food retains useful vitamins and microelements throughout the winter.

The amount of wood food reserves for the entire family of rodents can be very large. So, in order to prevent food from freezing into ice, animals usually placed it is below the water level. Even when the reservoir is completely covered with ice, food remains freely available for the beavers, so the family will definitely not have to starve.

Giving birth and raising babies

Beavers are considered monogamous animals. If they once connect with the opposite sex, then they remain with their soulmate throughout their lives. The female is usually dominant in the family. By the age of 2 years, beavers become capable of fully reproducing. Ordinary beavers can produce offspring only once a year. The onset of mating season occurs in mid-January and continues until the very end of February. The gestation period for babies lasts 3.5 months.

In April-May, from 2 to 6 beaver cubs are born. Beaver babies emerge sighted and covered with fur; the body weight of the newborn is 0.5 kg. A few days after birth, babies can already swim in the water. Adults take good and careful care of their babies.

By 1 month of life, small cubs are already able to eat plant foods, but the female continues to feed them milk until they reach 3 months. Adults remain close to their family for another 2 years, after which they calmly move out and begin an independent life.

Benefits of beavers for humans

1. The main advantage of beavers is their residence in rivers, as this has a positive effect on the ecological system. Particularly great benefits come from the construction of beaver dams. Small animals prefer to settle in these places, as well as waterfowl, which carry eggs on their legs, resulting in fish appearing in the reservoir. Beavers also influence water purification, because their dams retain silt and reduce the turbidity of the water.
2. This rodent friendly enough. But at the same time it has some enemies - brown bears, foxes and wolves. The greatest danger to animals is man himself. That is why, to preserve the population of this animal, effective measures were introduced to protect individuals and restore their numbers.