9 Fun Facts about Beavers!
9 Fun Facts about Beavers 🦫
Beavers are the ultimate keystone species, known as "Nature's engineers." And they're well known for their work ethic. They are master builders who use branches, mud, and stones to build dams and create wetlands that support a diverse range of plants and other animals. It's no exaggeration to say that the entire ecosystem relies on the beaver!
Here's some fun facts about our favorite animal!
Beavers are the second-largest rodent in the world, only after capybaras! Although baby beavers (kits) only weigh 1 pound when they're born, adult beavers can weigh as much as 70 pounds!
Beavers are ancient! They've been around since the Ice Age, and beaver fossils have been discovered that were more than 3 million years old! Back then, they grew up to 7 feet long and weighed as much as 400 pounds!
Beavers literally have iron teeth. Their teeth are actually orange due to the high iron content, which makes them super strong and tear-resistant. Also, their front teeth never stop growing. So, beavers need to keep eating wood to file their teeth down, otherwise their teeth can literally grow into their skull and kill them.
Beavers are family-oriented and are monogamous. They have strong family bonds and live in family groups called colonies, and both parents play an important role in raising and training up their kits. As a family, they'll work together to maintain the dam and lodge.
Their famous tail has multiple functions - it provides balance while they're carrying building materials, functions as a rudder while swimming, and they use it to slap the water to warn all the other animals when danger is near.
While they may look slow and clumsy on land, they are excellent swimmers. They can stay submerged underwater for up to 15 minutes! They also build underwater entrances to their lodges to keep them safe from predators. To help them thrive underwater, they have webbed back feet, and they can close their ears and nose when underwater.
They have extra thick fur! A beaver's fur is incredibly dense, with up to 23,000 hairs per square centimeter. This makes them waterproof, which keeps the beaver warm and dry, even when swimming through ice cold water.
Beavers produce castor oil. They have glands near their tails which produce castoreum, which smells like vanilla and is used in perfumes and for flavoring food. Unfortunately, they used to be hunted for their castoreum, as well as for their thick furs, and almost went extinct before they were protected. Now they are the national animal of Canada!
The largest beaver dam in the world is in Alberta, Canada, and is 2,543 feet long! That's almost half a mile long!
Beavers have recently been in the news as they've been reintroduced throughout North America to fight climate change. They've been reintroduced in California to help fight wildfires, Britian, as well as further north since the wetlands they create can improve water quality, reduce erosion, and sequester carbon! You can read more about our furry heroes here: