River beaver. Beaver huts and dams. Common or Eurasian or river beaver Animal type of beaver

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 types 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.

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 until 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 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 fur of the animal 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.

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.

This walk in the forest took place exactly a year ago. As often happens with me, something prevented me from telling about it on time. And then winter came, and then spring... And there was no time for autumn landscapes. Afterwards I really wanted to see another inhabitant of our forest - the beaver, at least where he lived, especially since a forest person I knew had already been there. That day, the weather was very favorable for walking through the forest: it was quiet, the sun was shining and still warm, the trees had not completely shed their golden leaves - the main feature of the photographs of that day for me is expressed by the word “gold”. Golden autumn, golden foliage, warm golden sun, softness and unobtrusiveness of nature.

I get tired of articles with lots of photos. Often, having carefully looked at the first ones, I scroll through the subsequent ones in impatience, but now I’ll try to do something that I don’t like so much: I’ll post more of them. And in general, there is only forest everywhere: sometimes bright, sometimes gloomy, slopes, intertwining branches, young growth, paths, barely noticeable, in the squawking mud there are rare traces of forest inhabitants invisible to us - but I just adore the photographs of that day! They are all beautiful to me and I wouldn’t mind posting even more photos!

We're walking through the forest

We entered the forest from the same clearing from which we left to look at the badger’s home, only we changed the direction a little. I have been to this clearing more than once: standing at the edge of the forest, listening to the birds, and once I saw a fox, and another time, in the evening, a roe deer.

Having gone down a little towards the ravine, we came to a stream. Mud when crossing the stream, the road is unimportant. Let's get over.

Look at this thin stream and remember it. You will see what he will turn into, the forest man advises. - You see how everything here is abandoned by man, what a mess.

Then we walked and walked, now up and now down the slopes of the ravine. The forest at the top of the slope shone, but below it was gloomy and gray. Sometimes real monsters lay in our path - fallen large trees. Nobody cleans them up. Sometimes in the lowlands, lying down, they still serve to cross a dirty or watery place.

Here try to see a barely noticeable animal trail. It led to the very bottom of the slope, where our stream flowed, and the moose left traces of their hooves near it.

Straight taiga.

Looking through the pictures at home and deleting those that I didn’t like, I wondered to myself: why didn’t I delete this one? What was I filming here anyway? Abundance of branches? It was not at first glance that I saw my guide, unnoticeable and extremely successfully “hidden.”

One day on social media, in a small conversation about beavers, blogger K. and I were divided in opinion. I spoke of beavers with admiration - they are smart, builders, but K. called them differently - destroyers. So who are they, beavers? Which beaver activity is more important? Are they building or destroying?

Monologue of the forest man

Beavers are workers, builders. Although they destroy trees, by and large, they do this out of natural necessity, for their livelihood, for the improvement of their home. And if you think sensibly, then the main destroyer of nature is man. Like no one else, he deliberately destroys and destroys much in nature, while finding a bunch of excuses.
So, small creatures - beavers, and our other younger brothers, are simply angels in comparison with humans. The small losses they cause to nature are more than made up for by other good things. When creating a cozy place for themselves to live, beavers build very beautiful dams, thereby forming small lakes. Fish begin to breed in the lakes, and waterfowl nest and live. Around the beaver lake there are always a lot of shoots of young willow trees, which - these are the large inhabitants of the forest that can come there! - moose love to feed. The dam becomes a home or feeding ground for other animals. In other words, the beaver unites the animal world, creating an ideal ecosystem for itself.
The damage caused by a beaver is a drop in the bucket compared to the damage caused by humans.

Beaver dam and pond

Meanwhile, the stream below became wider. And then it completely turned into a small lake. The gray hue of the dry lowland grass was beautifully complemented by the blue of the water and the sunny yellow and copper foliage. Colors of October... The last beautiful days...

This is what the narrow stream has turned into! And all this is the work and labor of beavers. Beavers block streams and create a dam so that the water rises to at least 1 meter in those passages of the reservoir that connect feeding areas with their homes and burrows. The passages for them look like streets. Beavers' burrows are dry. In general, the beaver is predominantly a land dweller. Being in water, one cannot be without air for a long time. The beaver swims in the water for several minutes, then emerges. The beaver covers the edges of its pond with mud and makes it strong with silt.

The depression along the edge of the bank is the entrance to a beaver's burrow. He swims up, dives under the edge and “enters” his home. Everything is thought out!

And this is all a dam, the whole beaver farm. A former thin, nondescript stream. The beaver creates a new natural structure: there was nothing and a small lake appeared.

There is amazing beauty in negligence, in interweaving, in confusion.

Every day the beaver swims around its territory, controls it, and monitors the condition of its reservoir. Cleans the bottom, deepening the passage for swimming. To make it easier for parts of the tree to move, beavers can make channels, which are always cleaned by transferring the resulting dirt to the edges of the channel. This passage - the channel - can become clogged from the unintentional passage of a large animal through the stream, or from fallen trees, or from sediment from the flow of water.

Here you can clearly see how the edges of the reservoir are covered.

The paw-making structure of beavers. But there was just a thread of a stream.

Everything is connected and sealed, but somewhere there is a gap left for water to drain. The water in the kingdom of the smart beaver is flowing and does not stagnate.

Somewhere here a stream flowed from a dam.

“The beaver takes out dirt and silt from the bottom. With this building material, together with twigs, sticks, trees, he builds a dam and strengthens the edges of his reservoir. A smart beaver will not cover up all the edges of his reservoir, he will definitely leave a small stream that will flow out of the reservoir. The outlet of the water a certain level of the beaver pond will be maintained.”

Let's now look at the beaver's home - the hut.

Hut

This is the beaver's main home. He builds it thoroughly - the beavers spend the winter in the hut.
The little builder collects twigs and branches, stacks them, strengthens them, connects them, covers them with silt and earth. To quickly descend while working, a beaver can ride down on its belly or tail. Within an hour, a beaver can gnaw through a 15-centimeter trunk - straight out of a sawmill! The logs are sawn and transported to the hut.
At first, the hut gives the impression of a chaotic warehouse of branches. Then you’ll think: you can’t fool a beaver, he knows what he’s doing!

Here our friend comes down.

And into the water!

And here is a beaver's paw, accidentally imprinted with mud. I wouldn't have seen it myself, it was pointed out to me.

Beaver family

Beavers reproduce quickly. The female gives birth to from one to six beaver cubs. Each family occupies its own territory of approximately 1-2 kilometers. They improve their possessions and do everything necessary for a peaceful life and continuation of the family. The larger branches - the sweetest ones - are brought by parents to their children. The adults themselves eat small branches with leaves.
The beaver family is the parents and offspring of the current and last year. Beaver is a very caring mother, but all family members also take care of the little ones. Parents patiently teach their cubs all the intricacies of beaver life: building dams, shelters, how to store food for the winter, how to protect themselves.

Return trip

These are the monsters we came across along the way.

We walked along another fallen tree and took pictures of each other. I was afraid to walk: the height was small, but I didn’t have enough balance; I had to grab onto nearby branches.

The lowland was left behind. We climbed into the still illuminated part of the forest. The sun was setting and the coolness of the evening could already be felt.

There was a boar under the tree.

And here he climbed over and left behind dirty hooves and belly.

Evening quickly came, the cold of the cooling air became sensitive, but the mood of a successful day did not leave. Here, at the top, calls immediately began, business began to be discussed - we were returning to the big civilized world. Contrasts of light awaited the clearing.

Lyrical addition

Any time of year is wonderful. From a purely green massif, the forest becomes dressed in a festive decoration of yellow-red-brown colors. They make him bright, enthusiastic, I would even say cheerful, despite the autumn season, the imminent onset of cold weather and the upcoming long winter sleep.

“Walking through the forest, you may not notice its active life. But if you stop and listen, you will certainly hear the knock of a woodpecker, the rustling of leaves, the rustling of mice underfoot, the cracking of branches from a walking animal, the screams, singing of a jay, the flapping of wings taking off from a lake or stream ducks. A squirrel or marten will flash in the distance or before your eyes. Before darkness you can see a beaver swimming among the flooded trees along the stream,"- the forest man added to my thoughts. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see a beaver. I hope so far...

And here’s something else that’s consistent:

"...Last moments of happiness!
Autumn already knows what he is
Deep and silent peace -
A harbinger of long bad weather..."
(From the poem “Falling Leaves” by I.A. Bunin, 1900)

"...October is beautiful, perhaps more beautiful than all the months of the year, even May. May torments with hope, promises that never come true, October promises nothing, does not give even a shadow of hope, it is all in itself. And behind it - darkness, cold , slush, wet snow, a huge night, the end. But how beautiful it is now! What gold! What copper! And how wonderful the green of the spruce trees in the forest and the vines over the river! And how green the grass is that has not withered at all. And above everything - pure blue the sky. Hard underfoot, like a forged road, the puddles are no longer covered with sugary, melting ice, but dark, opaque and hard. And the great emptiness of the quiet, permeated forest from edge to edge: not a bird, not an animal, not an insect, not a rustle, no squeak, no whistle..."
(Fragment from “Diary” by Yuri Nagibin, 1996)

I still remember this day. This year, it seemed, the leaves had fallen earlier and the weather was colder. How are the beavers living there? Have they not left or moved out of their hut?

The common beaver is a semi-aquatic animal that belongs to the order of rodents. Otherwise, this representative of the family is called river due to the fact that the rodent prefers to live in appropriate water sources. The animal is able to amaze even the most experienced person who deals with such animals. He builds a home well, takes care of his offspring and gets food. In terms of its overall dimensions, this rodent is the second largest. In today's material we will look at everything connected with it.

Description

1. The capybara is considered the largest animal among rodents, the beaver takes second place with honor. The mammal is famous for its dimensional features, which gives it a terrifying appearance. Such animals prefer to lead a semi-aquatic lifestyle.
2. If we consider their dimensions, then adult animals can grow up to 1.3 m in body length. You must agree, this is impressive. At the same time, the shoulders grow up to 35 cm, and body weight fluctuates in the range of 30 kg. Differences in gender between these individuals are poorly expressed. We can only say that the females are slightly larger than the males.
3. The body format is squat, the limbs are short, with five fingers. The hind limbs are considered the most developed; emphasis is placed on them. Due to the fact that animals prefer to live mostly in water, their spaces between their fingers are equipped with membranes. The claws are strong and strong, causing lacerations during collisions.
4. The tail is given special attention. It has no fur. The format of the tail looks like an oval, elongated and very flat. It grows up to 30 cm in length and about 13 cm in width. Some individuals may have hairs in the main part. The tail itself seems to be covered with keratinized scale particles. Between them there is a very short and hard pile. The upper part is characterized by the presence of a keel.
5. Despite the fact that these individuals are classified as large, their eyes are small. The ears are also not famous for their majesty; they are hidden under the fur and practically do not stand out against the background of the head. When an animal descends into a body of water, its nostrils close, as do the openings in its ears. Membranes called nictitating membranes descend over the eyes.
6. The molar dentition is characterized by a rootless type. However, a separate root system may be present in adult individuals due to age characteristics. The incisors are located at the back of the mouth. They are growths that are isolated from the mouth. It is this trait that allows animals to gnaw whatever they want in the aquatic environment.
7. Animal fur is pigmented in black, dark brown, brownish, and chestnut shades. It is famous for having a dense cushion with an oily impregnation. The guard hair itself is hard and elongated. The paws are painted black, as is the tail, although the latter may also have a dark gray pigment. Shedding occurs once a year. It begins at the end of spring and ends with the beginning of winter or the end of autumn.
8. The anal zone is equipped with paired glands, as well as a beaver stream, the main purpose of which is to send a signal about the gender and other characteristics of a particular individual. Their jets release a secretion with an enhanced odor. This aroma allows other individuals to navigate among the entire beaver settlement and identify a specific member of the pack.

Lifestyle

1. The representatives of the family under discussion prefer to live near slowly flowing water sources, be they rivers or storage facilities. They also enjoy completely standing sources, such as ponds or lakes. Beavers occupy the shoreline and spread out in this area. They do not mind settling in quarries or oxbow lakes. They completely stay away from fast-flowing water sources, as well as those places that freeze almost to the bottom in winter.
2. These individuals require vegetation growing in the coastal area. They prefer shrubs and wood, and love larches. I also like herbs, which form the basis of the diet.
3. The animals are both excellent divers and swimmers. Their lungs are huge, as is their liver. All this allows you to gain enough air to swim the required distance and stay in the water for up to 15 minutes. When a mammal gets ashore, it feels unsafe and looks clumsy.
4. When danger is brewing, the rodents begin to slap their spade-like tails across the water surface with all their might, then just as quickly disappear into the aquatic environment. They thus give an alarm to all other family members so that they can escape in a timely manner.
5. Accommodation is carried out individually or in small groups. A family can consist of 7 individuals, which are represented by a couple and their offspring. If a family occupies a certain territory, then it is registered with it for several more years or even more.
6. If the body of water is relatively small, it can be occupied by a bachelor or a small family. But larger areas are allocated to groups. Beavers try not to move further than 150 m from bodies of water, because this increases the risk to life.
7. These individuals walk around their possessions, after which they mark the boundaries with a secret that encourages them not to leave their homes. As for the period of activity, these mammals prefer to stay awake at dusk or at night.
8. With the onset of the autumn or spring season, adult members of the family leave their homes in the evening, after which they work throughout the night. When cold or frost sets in, these individuals very rarely come to the surface.

Lifespan

1. Considering their lifespan in the natural environment, we can say that in such conditions they reach up to 15 years. If you keep mammals in captivity, they will live for about 20-25 years. Life is shortened due to the presence of enemies in nature and some diseases characteristic of these rodents.
2. Even if we take into account that animals are famous for their excellent immune systems, they can still get sick. Among the most common ailments are infections, including tularemia. Because of it, animals simply die.
3. The population is also affected by special weather conditions, including winter floods. For example, they can take the lives of more than half of the beaver population. And spring floods lead to the death of young animals, which are not adapted to such situations.

Population

1. The individuals under discussion, classified as the common or Eurasian segment, have long inhabited the countries of Europe and Asia, respectively. But at some point, beavers began to be mercilessly hunted, which led to a significant reduction in the population. Today the population is very small, it is practically on the verge of extinction.
2. At the beginning of the 19th century, in almost all territories of the above countries, these rodents did not remain at all. In the 20th century, the population numbered about 1,300 individuals. They created groups that monitored the population and punished violators. Therefore, the number of beavers has increased in Europe; in Asia it is still recovering, but slowly.

Meaning

1. The presented mammals began to be hunted due to the fact that their fur is very valuable. Rodents were also caught using beaver streams, which are often used in the production of perfumes, pharmacology, and medicine.
2. The meat of this animal is considered a delicacy. Catholics even equate it with Lenten varieties. However, today it is known that beaver can carry salmonellosis, partly because of this, its meat is no longer consumed in such quantities.

Characteristics

1. It is worth noting that the presented individuals live in burrows. Such dwellings are sometimes called huts. An interesting fact remains that the entrance to their house is always located under water. Most often, rodents begin to dig a hole on a steep, steep bank. Such a dwelling is presented in the form of a complex labyrinth.
2. In addition, the house has several entrances. Beavers take a responsible approach to construction. They try to compact the shelf part and walls tightly. In addition, mammals most often build a hut in places where, as it may seem, there are no conditions for such actions.
3. Burrows are often found in swampy, low and flat banks. He is on the shallows. Individuals begin construction as soon as summer comes to an end. The finished dwelling is a cone-shaped hole. At the same time, the height in diameter is truly amazing; it can reach up to 10 m.
4. Animals try to carefully decorate the walls with clay and silt. Thanks to this feature, this fortress is practically impregnable to predators and other pests. Such beavers are clean animals. They will never litter their home with excrement or pieces of food.
5. Beavers begin to build the famous platinums if a family of beavers lives on a body of water where the water level often changes. Trees that have fallen into the water often serve as a powerful frame base. As a result, beavers try to line the trunk with all available materials.
6. The finished platinum can be up to 30 m long. At the same time, the base reaches up to 6 m and the height up to 5 m. It is worth noting an interesting fact that in Montana, on the Jefferson River, beavers built a dam of incredible size. Its length reached as much as 0.7 km! Animals begin to cut down trees to prepare food and for construction needs.
7. Beavers gnaw tall trees at the very base. After this, the animal can gnaw off the branches. If the tree is large, then the rodent divides the trunk into several parts. Aspen with a diameter of up to 10 cm can be felled by a beaver in just a few minutes. If the tree has a diameter of up to half a meter, the animal will knock it down in less than a night.
8. During this, beavers lean on their tail and stand on their hind legs. At the same time, their teeth begin to work like a saw. During this procedure, the beavers' fangs are sharpened themselves. They consist of very strong and hard dentin. Small branches that have been knocked down are eaten by the animals themselves.
9. The rest of the building materials are sent by water towards the construction of a dam or dwelling. During the construction process, beavers trample paths that are soon filled with water. They are most often called “beaver canals.” They are used to transport tree feed. After a long period of work, the area takes on an unusual appearance. In the process, it is called a “beaver landscape.”

Diet

1. The individuals in question belong to the category of animals that strictly feed on products of exclusively plant origin. These semi-aquatic mammals prefer only plant shoots and tree bark.
2. Animals often like to feast on willow, aspen, poplar or birch. Beavers are very fond of herbaceous plants. Among these, the most popular are iris, egg capsule, young reed, water lily and cattail.
3. Beavers begin to actively live in areas where there is a large amount of softwood. In addition, the daily diet of these mammals often includes hazel, elm, linden and bird cherry. Oak and alder are not on the beaver menu. This material is used exclusively for construction purposes and for furnishing your own home.
4. What remains interesting is that beavers really love acorns. Moreover, every day in their diet such a product makes up about 20% of the total mass of the animal itself. River beavers cope excellently with any solid food of plant origin without any problems. This is achieved thanks to a powerful bite and large teeth.
5. It is worth noting that beavers almost always consume only a few tree species for food. If they switch to a new type of food, they will need a long adaptation. The microflora in the intestines must completely adapt to the new type of menu. As soon as the warm period begins, the beavers' diet begins to include a large amount of grassy food.
6. With the onset of autumn, beavers begin to prepare food for the winter. It is interesting that animals put wood food in the water. Thanks to this, the product fully retains its taste and nutritional qualities until the onset of February. On average, the food supply per family is up to 70 cubic meters.

Reproduction

1. As for sexual maturity, individuals reach it only at the 3rd year of life. Animals most often remain in rut from the end of February to the end of March. At this time, beavers begin to crawl out of their winter shelters and wander through the snow. They also often swim in thawed ice holes. They actively mark their territory with beaver streams.
2. Among other things, not only males do this, but also females who have reached sexual maturity. Interestingly, the mating process occurs exclusively in water. After a little more than 3 months, up to 5 cubs are born. The number of young animals will directly depend on the age of the female. Old beavers produce more beavers than young ones.
3. As soon as the young are born, in the first days they feed exclusively on their mother’s milk. When babies are more than 3 weeks old, plant foods begin to be present in their diet. The mother stops feeding the beavers milk when they are about 2 months old.
4. In addition, it is at this time that the young animals begin to actively develop their incisors. Therefore, the beavers follow their parents to gnaw on something. They become completely independent by the age of 2 years. At this age they are already starting to build their own home.

In today's material we will look at the second largest mammal, classified as a rodent. Beavers, due to their overall size, can grow more than 1 m; they are excellent builders and parents. Due to fishing and constant hunting, the population has decreased significantly, but this century they are fighting to restore it.

Video: common beaver (Castor fiber)