Ethan's Report on North American Beavers

Contents

Find this page at http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~culler/beavers.html

Description

beaver pic

The Beaver has a flat tail, which it slaps against the water to warn other beavers. It doesn't use it for packing mud. The beaver is the largest rodent in the world. The scientific name for the beaver is castor canadensis. The beaver gives a yellow and strong smelling substance called castor. The beaver uses the castor by making boundaries. The castor comes out of the tail. Thats unusual.

In 1938 a man named Webster caught a beaver weighing one hundered and fifteen pounds. Phew, that's heavier then my mom. The beaver is 12 to 24 inches tall at the shoulder. The beaver has a length of 24 to 32 inches not with the tail. The beaver has lungs that inhail 50% more oxygen than human lungs. The average beaver weighs 25 to 65 pounds.

The beavers are welcome back to the lodge in which they were born and raised. One interesting fact is a beaver has two sets of lips. The reason is so they can gnaw under water. They have two sets of eyelids so they won't get their eyes hurt. The inner eyelid is transparent so their eye are closed but they can see.

The average adult can grow up to three or four feet in length. Thats big. Fat is not stored up for the winter because the beaver doesnUt hibernate. the beavers underfur is soft and silky. It akso has long shiny guard hairs that are very stiff. The beaver also has waterproof fur.

The tail of the beaver is flat and scaly. Its tail is abel to grow to be 10 to 18 inches long. The beaver uses its tail to balance when gnawing down a tree. The beavers teeeth are growing throughout its life. It has 16 molars. The front teeth of the beaver are sharp and chisel like. A beaverUs jaw has a large space in between incisors and molars. The incisors are about one inch in length and width. The teeth have a hard yellowish redish coating.

The fore feet are 2 and a half to 3 inches long. The hind feet are seven inches long. ThatUs two to two and a half inches longer than the front feet. The hind feet are webbed so they can hold things and can swim fast. Their front feet are like our own hands,except the claws and the two split fingernails used for grooming.

The average adult can grow up to three or four feet in length. Thats big. Fat is not stored up for the winter because the beaver doesn't hibernate.

Habitat

Beavers live in ponds that they make by building dams, often in a stream or river. There are three structures in a beaver pond: the lodge, the dam, and the storage house. Here's a picture we found on the net. Someone thought was a beaver dam, but it is probably a lodge.
beaver dam A beaver doesn't just move in to a dam but they might fix up an abandoned dam in need of repair. They live in a burrow made in the side of a bank. Three of the dams sides are in the water, so it is safe.

They live in almost all of North America that's a lot of land.The beaver likes wooded areas so he has shade. The lodge is a pile of sticks and mud . The entrance is under water . The top sticks out of the water. It is loosely covered in branches. In the lodge they build shelves above water. There is a thick layer of wood chips and grasses . They hollow out the lodge by gnawing a hole. If the water is too deep they can not build.

They live very close to food which means all they have to do is go out of the pond and in to the woods. The houses look like piles of brush. Before winter, mud is added. The mud keeps the lodge warm and safe.

Reproduction

They usually mate around January or February. The gestation period is 105 days, so the babies are born around April or May. The babies are called "kits". They are born with everything they need to survive, and their eyes are open. They are able to swim after four days, but they are not let out of the house until seven days.

They mate for life. The mating ceremony takes place under water. They mate between the months January and February. They reach sexual maturity at three years of age.

The young are called kits. The litter is usually four to six kits. In three months tor less the baby beavers are born. The young weigh 1 or 2 pounds. At birth the beavers eyes are open and they have everything they need to survive. they can swim four days after birth. They can gnaw immediately

How the little animal has changed our world

Canada's earliest reason for existence was as a source of furs for the gentry of Europe. In particular, the wool from the beaver pelt was prized as raw material for top hats. As Eastern Canada became developed the fur traders moved west and most of the cities of Western Canada have their origin in the era of fur trading posts. (Click for more)

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