Beaver Food (5)

Castor canadensis

Common name: North American Beaver

Family: Castoridae

Native to: North America

Comments:

Rodents (from Latin rodere, "to gnaw") are mammals of the order Rodentia, which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. The beaver (genus Castor) is a large, primarily nocturnal, semiaquatic rodent. Beavers have large webbed hind feet ideal for swimming, and hand-like front paws that allow them to manipulate objects with great dexterity. Beaver fur consists of short fine hairs for warmth and longer hairs for waterproofing. They need to groom their fur daily to keep it waterproof, and frequently groom each other’s fur. They have castor glands on the underside of their abdomen from which they can excrete an oily substance (castor) that they use in the grooming process, and to mark their territory. The beaver’s most distinctive feature is their large flat tail, which serves as a rudder when swimming, a prop when sitting or standing upright, and a storehouse of fat for the winter. Beavers will also slap their tail on the surface of the water as a danger warning to other beavers or sometimes in play. They do not use it to carry mud. Adult beavers typically weigh 45 to 60 pounds, but have been known to grow to 100 pounds. They are the second-largest rodent in the world (after the capybara).

Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges (homes). Their colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators, and to float food and building material. They prefer to dam streams in shallow valleys, where the flooded area becomes productive wetlands. These cradles of life support biodiversity that rivals tropical rain forests. Almost half of endangered and threatened species in North America rely upon wetlands. Freshwater wetlands have been rated as the world's most valuable land-based ecosystem.

American Indians called the beaver the "sacred center" of the land because this species creates such rich, watery habitat for other mammals, fish, turtles, frogs, birds and ducks. They respected beavers, and considered them “Little People.” Beavers and humans are alike in their ability to greatly alter their habitats to suit their own needs.

Beavers reliably and economically maintain wetlands that sponge up floodwaters, alleviate droughts and floods (because their dams keep water on the land longer), lessen erosion, raise the water table and act as the "earth's kidneys" to purify water. The latter occurs because several feet of silt collect upstream of older beaver dams, and toxics such as pesticides, are broken down by microbes in the wetlands that beavers create. Thus, water downstream of dams is cleaner and requires less treatment for human use.

Beavers are pure vegetarians, subsisting solely on woody and aquatic vegetation. They will eat fresh leaves, twigs, and stems. They also eat tree bark and the soft tissue, called cambium that lies beneath the bark. Beavers will chew on any species of tree, but preferred species include alder, aspen, birch, cottonwood, maple, poplar and willow. Aquatic foodstuffs include cattails, water lilies, sedges and rushes, and various berries. Cattail and water lily tubers are favorites. Using their nimble front paws, beavers will roll lily pads like cigars to eat them. Beavers do not eat fish or other animals.

Location: Huntley Meadows

Date: 4/24/2017

Photographer: Paula Croisetiere

Keywords: beaver, rodent, Huntley Meadows, mammal, biodiversity, silt

 

 

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