American beavers are stocky and have a compact body and short legs. Beavers are aquatic rodents and have a number of adaptations that make them adept swimmers including webbed feet and a broad, flat tail covered with scales. Beavers have a pair of glands located at the base of their tail. These glands, called castor glands, secrete an oil that has a distinct musk odor and the beaver uses the oil to mark its territory and to waterproof its fur.
Beavers have very large teeth in proportion to their skull. Their teeth and are coated with a tough enamel that is orange to chestnut brown in color. Beavers' teeth grow continuously and are warn away and sharped as the beaver chews through trees and bark. Beavers have strong chewing muscles and singificant biting strength.
Beaver build lodges—dome-shaped shelters made of woven sticks, branches, and grass that are plastered together with mud. The entrance to a beaver lodge is located below the surface of the water. Lodges can be burrows built into pond banks or mounds built in the middle of a pond.
Beavers live in family units known as colonies, which include as many as 8 individuals. These colonies are territorial.
- Mass: 17 -31.7 kg
- Body Length: 83 - 110 cm
- Tail Length: 30 - 34 cm
- Shoulder Height: 30 - 35 cm
- Diet: bark of willow poplar, and other softwood trees, plants
- Breeding Season: January or February
- Age at Sexual Maturity: 3 years
- Number of Offspring: 1 to 4
- Predators: humans, wolves, wolverines
- Average Lifespan: 10 years
Classification:
Range and Habitat:
References:
- Burnie D, Wilson DE. 2001. Animal. London: Dorling Kindersley. 624 p.
- Anderson R. 2002. Castor canadensis, Animal Diversity Web. December 02, 2008.
