Last updated on July 18th, 2024
Beavers, the second largest rodent on the earth (second only to capybaras), are famous for their incredibly advanced ability to manipulate their surroundings to their own advantage. In fact, a beaver’s ability to change their living habitat is considered second only to humans. This is why these extremely skilful and industrious animals are depicted as “nature’s engineers.”
In fact, beavers have actually become synonymous to industriousness and all English speakers will be familiar with expressions like “busy as a beaver” or the verb “to beaver”, which means ‘to work extremely hard.’ But why are beavers called skillful and ingenious? What kind of impact do they have on their ecosystem? What are some unique facts regarding beavers’ lifestyle?
Find all these and more in our carefully compiled list of top fun, unique, and interesting beaver facts.
Interesting facts about Beavers
1. They are from the ice age
However, not many know that beavers are actually ancient animals and they used to exist during the Ice Age! The oldest fossil of the giant beaver dates back to 3 million years. Interestingly, they were pure herbivores.
2. The two extant species of beavers
At present, there are two extant (still existing) species of beavers in the world: the Eurasian Beaver (Castor fiber) and the North American Beaver (Castor canadensis). The latter is found throughout North America (barring the southern deserts states of the US and the extremely cold northern regions of Canada).
3. Weight and height
Beavers are quite large for most rodents and fully-grown adults become almost 3-4 feet tall, including tail. They weigh between 16-30 kgs (35-65 pounds) and stand 1-1.5 feet tall.
4. The biggest and longest of the modern beavers
In 1921, the largest of the modern beavers was caught from the Iron River in Wisconsin, United States. It was twice the size of an average beaver and weighted some 110 pounds. It was 5 feet long including tail.
5. The largest beaver who ever lived
The Giant Beaver lived in Canada almost 10,000 years ago and weighted nearly as a black bear. Known with the scientific name of Castoroides ohioensis, this beaver was almost 7 feet long. As per the fossils, it could have weighed around 440 pounds.
6. The world’s largest beaver sculpture
The world’s largest beaver sculpture can be seen at Beaverlodge, Alberta. The statue is 18 feet long, 10 feet wide and 10 feet high and weighs 1,500 pounds. It sits on a log which is 5 feet high, 20 feet long and weighs 1,500 pounds.
7. Eurasian beavers were in majority once
Eurasian beavers, on the other hand, were once found across many different regions of Europe and Asia. Today, however, almost 85% of all Eurasian beavers are found in Europe.
8. Once faced the danger of extinction
The reason for the above can be traced back to late 19th- early 20th century when over-hunting of the animals (for their pelts, meat and castoreum), along with slow but steady degradation and loss of their freshwater and wetland habitats, had reduced the species to near extinction.
Fortunately, however, many beaver preservation and reintroduction programs as well as hunting restrictions have resulted in rapid increase in beaver populations (both in Europe and in North America) throughout the 20th century and beyond.
9. Not endangered now
At current, the IUCN Red List of mammals lists beavers as a species of “least concern.” Also, according to one estimate, the number of wild beavers in Europe has more than tripled in the last two and half decades.
10. Their commercial worth
Castoreum, a musk-like secretion produced by beavers’ castor glands, is used for making perfumes, medicine, and as a food preservation ingredient.
11. No offspring if two species are mixed
Another interesting fact about the two species of beavers is that although visibly there isn’t much of a difference between the two, the different genetic profiles of the two mean that although members of the two species can mate, mating cannot result in offspring.
12. Iron in their teeth
Beavers possess a pair of extremely sharp and potent front incisor teeth. These teeth are orange-coloured due to the presence of iron in the teeth enamel.
13. Webbed Legs
Beavers have strong webbed legs that help them course through the waters fast.
14. Fast swimmers
As semiaquatic animals, beavers can swim extremely fast up to 8.5 km per hour. That is almost double the speed of an average human swimmer.
15. Tail working as a radar
Beavers also have a large, uniquely-shaped (flat as a pancake), scaly, and hairless tail that act as their radar while swimming.
16. Can hold their breath underwater
Beavers can also hold their breath as long as 15 minutes underwater. While underwater, they can close their ears and nostrils and can also close their lips behind their teeth (this helps them carry branches, twigs, etc. between their teeth while swimming underwater).
17. An extra set of eyelids
Further, the beavers possess a set of third eyelids that are transparent and which help them protect their eyes without obstructing their vision during underwater swimming. A bit like a pair of built-in goggles!
18. Great Architects
Beaver Lodges. No beaver facts list can be complete without a mention of these animals’ superlative ability to build dams and lodges inside or across ponds, streams, etc. and which they use for living, nesting, storing food for winter, and more.
19. They can cut huge trees too
With the help of their strong teeth, beavers cut trees (often quite large ones) that stand on the edge of the ponds and this tree trunk acts as the basic structure or foundation of the dam/lodge. The rodents then carry leaves, stones, twigs, branches and roots of trees, silt and mud, and pretty much anything else that are of use to them. These are then placed over and under the base to create the superstructure.
20. Their constructions can be up to 300 feet long
These dams stand usually at a height of 5 feet. However, the real interesting fact about these structures is their length, since these dams can span only a few feet to over 300 feet, depending on the surroundings.
21. The homes have different sections for different use
The lodges have an eating chamber, a nesting chamber (the lodge floor is covered in wood chips, grass, and trees bark) and the entrances to them are always built under water so to keep them safe from predators. The underwater section of the lodge is also used as a food storage!
22. They construct in shallow water
The beavers build their lodges in slow flowing and shallow water and avoid deep and/or fast running parts of streams and rivers. This, for one thing, helps them build a water body with just about enough depth to safeguard them against potential predators. Additionally, this also ensures ice blockage to the underwater entrances of the lodge during winter.
23. They can change the structure type as per the water force
However, if and when a beaver is forced to build his lodge in fast water, it will build the dam with a curve so to thwart the speed of the water. This again demonstrates the remarkable ingenuity of these animals in modifying their habitat!
24. Ecological Significance of Beaver Dams
Beaver dams lead to the creation of stable, long-lasting wetland ecosystems and a survival of a huge number of flora and fauna species (including lots of mammals, birds, fish, frogs, salamanders, and more) depend on these wetlands. According to one estimate, close to half of all rare, threatened, and endangered species need wetlands to live.
25. Contribute in preventing soil erosion
Further, beaver dams also prevent soil erosion and block the downstream flow of toxins like pesticides and other contaminants into major water bodies.
26. Species with high impact on its natural environment
For the above reasons, beavers have been recognized as one of the ‘keystone species’, which is defined as species that have an extremely high impact on its natural environment and on a particular ecosystem relative to its population. Other examples of keystone species include bees, sea otters, sea stars, large mammalian predators, elephants, oak trees, and more.
27. Conflict with Humans.
Despite their high ecological significance, beaver activities such as burrowing and felling trees, damming waterways can negatively impact people like foresters, farmers, etc. Beaver dams, for example, can destroy pastures and crop fields by flooding these outlying areas. In such cases, it is important that the conflict is effectively managed instead of simply resorting to persecution of beavers.
28. “Beaver Drop” program
One such exemplary initiative of efficiently managing beaver-human conflict was undertaken by Idaho Department of Fish and Game in 1948 and which ensured that beavers, despite being semiaquatic animals, remained no strangers to airplanes and even parachutes! The incident in question is famously known as the “Beaver Drop” program that saw 76 beavers relocated to new habitats in Central Idaho. The animals were put into an airplane and were parachuted down to their new territories via this praiseworthy effort.
29. Strict monogamous animals
As for interesting facts about beavers’ lifestyle, it should be mentioned that they are strictly monogamous animals and they will take a new mate only if and when their current partner dies!
30. Lifespan
Beavers in the wild have a lifespan of 10-20 years.
31. Captives live longer
We may mention here that beavers are also kept in captivity (for Castoreum, fur harvesting as also for entertainment) and those in captivity normally live longer than their cousins in the wild.
32. Beavers are nocturnal
Although they can at times be spotted during daytime, commonly around dusk, beavers are primarily nocturnal animals and carry out all their principal activities during night.
33. Beavers are herbivores
Beavers are herbivores and feed on tree bark, aquatic plants (mostly their roots and flowers), soft wood under the bark known as cambium, etc. Their favorite foods include cambium, bark, as well as twigs and branches of trees like willow, alder, aspen, birch and maple.
34. Not only dams and loges, they can build canals too!
Beavers normally find their food from their immediate habitat. However, if they happen to find a particularly good food source, they are willing to travel a good distance from their lodge to collect food from there. During these occasions, they will build a canal to the food source which is then used to float the food back to their homes. Still another proof of these creatures’ ingenuity and industrious nature!
35. Territorial animals
Beavers are territorial animals and they will build small mud mounds and sprinkle them with castor to ‘scent mark’ their territory.
36. They stick to their families
Beavers move in groups or colonies made solely of their own kin whom they recognize through the scent of their castors.
. . . continue reading on the next page