About beavers
- (Castor) - a genus from the order. Currently sole representative Beaver family. The genus Beaver is divided into two species - common beaver(Castor fiber), living in Eurasia and Canadian beaver(Castor canadensis) – in North America. Some zoologists consider the Canadian beaver to be a subspecies of the common beaver, but this point of view is contradicted different quantities chromosomes (48 in the common and 40 in the Canadian). In addition, beavers of two species cannot interbreed.
- The word “beaver” is inherited from the Proto-Indo-European language, the literal translation of this word is “double brown.”
- The word beaver, according to linguistic sources of 1961, should be used in the meaning, and beaver - in the meaning of the fur of this animal: beaver collar, clothing with beaver fur. The word beaver, however, is in spoken language widely used as a synonym for the word beaver (like fox and, ferret and polecat).
- Common beaver- most large rodent fauna of the Old World and the second largest rodent after the capybara.
- In many Russian cities there are monuments to Beaver.
- Beavers first appear in Asia, where their fossilized remains date back to the Eocene (5-3 million years ago). Those ancient beavers are long extinct. Of the extinct beavers, the most famous giants of the Pleistocene times are the Siberian Trogontherium cuvieri and the North American Castoroides ohioensis. Judging by the size of the skull, the latter’s height reached 2.75 m and weight 350 kg. Such a beaver could compete with himself!
- Modern beavers are, of course, much smaller. Females are usually larger than males.
- The Canadian beaver weighs from 15 to 35 kg. The usual weight is 20 kg with a body length of about 1 meter. Canadian beavers grow throughout their lives, so older beavers can reach a weight of 45 kg. The common beaver has a body weight of 30-32 kg with a body length of 1-1.3 meters.
- About 15-18 centimeters of the total length falls on the tail. The Canadian beaver has a wider tail than the common or Eurasian beaver (the average width is 15-18 cm for the Canadian beaver and 10-12 cm for the common beaver).
- The beaver's tail is simply unique. It is shaped like an oar. The length does not exceed 30 cm. There is no hair on the tail. It is covered with horny plates, between which sparse hairs emerge. In the middle, along the entire length of its tail, there is a horny protrusion, reminiscent of a ship's keel.
- The beaver has two glands at the base of its tail that produce an odorous substance called beaver phlegm. Animals use it to mark their territory, and people use the substance in perfumery and medicine.
- Beavers have squat bodies. There are 5 fingers on the limbs. There are membranes between them.
- Beavers live along the banks of slow-flowing rivers, lakes, reservoirs, oxbow lakes, ponds, irrigation canals and quarries. Avoid bodies of water that freeze to the bottom in winter, as well as wide and fast rivers. For beavers, it is important that soft deciduous trees and shrubs grow along the banks of the reservoir.
- Beavers lead predominantly night look life, resting during the day in his home. The beaver's home is either a hole dug on a steep bank or a hut made of sticks and mud.
- Beavers dig their burrows in steep banks. They are quite long and represent a whole labyrinth with several entrances. In such burrows the floor is slightly above the water level. If the river floods, the animals scrape down the earth from the ceiling, and thus “raise” the floor.
- In addition to burrows, beavers build huts. They collect dry tree branches in a heap on the shallows and cover them with earth, clay and silt. A free space is created inside the heap, rising above the water. The entrance to it is made from under the water. The height of such a hut reaches 3 meters, and the diameter is 10 meters. The walls of the hut are very strong. They serve as excellent protection against predatory animals. In preparation for cold weather, beavers place an additional layer of earth and clay on the walls. In such buildings winter months The temperature is always above zero, and the water in the holes does not freeze. Beavers maintain perfect order in their homes. They never contain excrement or food waste.
- The entrance to any beaver's home is always under water.
- Beavers – excellent swimmers. They reach speeds of up to 10 km/h, pushing off the water with strong hind legs. It is quite possible that it was the beaver's webbed feet that suggested the idea of swimming fins to the inventor. The beaver's rather small front paws are unwebbed, but are armed with long, strong claws for digging. A beaver, while swimming, clenches its front paws into fists and pushes away any obstacles with them. He carries branches and clay with them, pressing them to his chest and lower jaw.
- It would seem that living among the water, such large animals would have to eat. But this is not the case at all. The beaver is a herbivore. He eats aquatic and sedge with pleasure. Gnaws the bark from poplars. And yet, young shoots seduce him more. Beavers help grind food with their huge incisors, which grow throughout their lives, and they digest cellulose with the help of special bacteria living in the cecum.
- In winter, the beaver's only food is wood, among which preference is given to willow, aspen and birch. Beavers do not come to the surface in winter, so they have to store food for the winter by dragging small wood under water. To prevent the water in the place where the beaver lives from freezing in winter, the animals build dams that raise the water level. To do this, beavers stick gnawed trunks vertically into the river bottom. They lay between them big stones and cover them with silt. Branches and tree trunks are placed as desired as the dam grows. Often the branches take root and intertwine, which further strengthens the dam. Pile branches onto the above-water part. They are held together with clay. It turns out to be a very strong structure.
- Beavers cut down trees by gnawing the trunk. The beaver gnaws through thin alder with ten bites. Typically, beavers use trunks approximately 25 cm thick. A tree this size can be cut down in one night. To do this, the beaver makes two notches on the trunk, one above the other, and between these notches scrapes out the wood with its teeth. Mostly they prefer soft rocks trees such as aspen, poplar, alder or willow.
- The length of the dam can reach up to 30 meters. It is wider at the base, about 5-6 meters. It narrows with height. The dam reaches a width of 2 meters at the very top. The height can be 3, 4, or 5 meters. History knows of cases where beavers built dams 500 and even 850 meters long. In the USA they once discovered beaver dam six meters high, although its length was only 10 meters. But in the state of New Hampshire, near the town of Berlin, they found a dam 1200 meters long, and 40 beaver lodges were built in the dam behind it.
- Beavers constantly monitor the condition of the dam. Minor damage and leaks are immediately repaired.
- In water, beavers mate, enter their homes and, naturally, protect their lives from predatory animals.
- A beaver can stay underwater for a maximum of 15 minutes.
- The beaver is a social animal; all beavers form families. One family usually has up to 10 individuals. This married couples and young animals that have not yet reached sexual maturity. The right to reproduce in a family, however, belongs only to the leading couple; the remaining individuals, after growing up, are forced to leave the group in order to organize their own colony. One family can live on the same plot for a century. The length of such a plot of land along the coast reaches 3-4 km.
- Beavers mate for life. Only death can separate the betrothed. The exception is the Canadian beaver, which may have a small harem of 2-3 females. Winter is the mating season. Mating occurs in water. The gestation period for the common beaver is 107 days, for the Canadian beaver it is 128 days. There are from 2 to 6 cubs in a litter.
- Beaver in free time He is constantly busy maintaining his fur in proper condition. To maintain the water-repellent properties of fur, it must be constantly lubricated with secretions from the sebaceous glands, for which a special claw is used. hind legs. This allows the animal not to get wet or freeze even in icy water.
- Main natural enemies river beaver are brown bears, wolves and foxes, but the most significant damage to the animal population is caused by humans.
- Cities, localities, and towns are named after the beaver. settlements, rivers. More details
Others built a miracle dam.
This, friends, is not a mirage, not a deception:
Beavers saved a caravan in the desert.
The people will not forget the brave beavers!
The glory of the beaver lives in the world.
A press conference was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
News - beavers have appeared in Antarctica.
Instead of trees, glaciers are gnawing
These animals are tireless.
The beavers quickly spread across the planet.
We've already seen them in Tibet,
Geysers are ponded by beavers in Kamchatka,
There are beaver lodges on the Yellow River.
Even in Australia the beaver is important
I built myself a three-story tent.
There was also a message from NATO,
That there is a beaver's house on the moon.
You can't run away from beavers anywhere,
Everywhere the beaver winks from the pond.
(c) Nikolay Tyurin
And now interesting photos about the life of beavers next to humans.
As you know, beavers are kind,
Beavers are full of kindness.
If you want good for yourself,
you just need to call the beaver.
Just think, my friend, about the beaver,
you'll be head over heels in goodness.
If you are kind without a beaver,
it means you yourself are a beaver at heart!
Beavers are kind. Kinder than a beaver
You won't find an animal in the whole forest!
And, even if the forest itself is not kind at all,
The beaver is kind. I believe the beaver.
The nightingales have become sleepy,
And the owls also became numb.
Your brown favorites -
The bears were completely overwhelmed.
Where are the worlds going?!
The hunter will readily confirm,
That only beavers are kind
And the huts are made carefully.
Archaeologists have found fossil remains of beavers from the Pleistocene era (11 million - 12 thousand years ago). Some species, for example Castoroides ohioensis, reached gigantic size 2.75 m and weighed up to 350 kg.
Beavers are the second largest rodents in the world. In size they are second only to the South American capybaras.
The weight of an adult male beaver is comparable to the weight of an eight-year-old child.
IN wildlife Beavers live up to 15 years on average. In zoos, these animals can live to a very advanced age by beaver standards - 40 years.
Beavers are strict vegetarians. The basis of their diet consists of bark and tree shoots, as well as various plants(reeds, reeds, cattails, water lilies, etc.). Interestingly, beavers have favorite types of wood: aspen, birch and willow.
An interesting fact: if a beaver dies, then most often the cause of death is a tree that fell on it, which the animal itself gnawed.
To fell a tree 5-7 cm thick, a beaver will need only 5 minutes. It will take the animal 8-12 hours to fell and sand a forty-centimeter tree trunk.
Beavers, after inhaling air, can submerge under water for 10-15 minutes. At the same time, they are able to swim underwater for a distance of up to 750 m.
Beavers have transparent eyelids, which successfully replace glasses for them. scuba diving. Thanks to your unique centuries Beavers see well underwater.
Beavers have scaly tails, covered in places with hard hairs. The beaver tail is both a steering oar and a depth regulator.
The claws on the second fingers are like combs. Thanks to the nail plates split in two, beavers can comb their fur.
In beaver families, the head is the female.
For the winter, a beaver family can harvest up to 70 cubic meters of wood.
Little beavers do not learn the necessary skills from their parents - the ability to build huts and dams is inherent in them at the genetic level.
Young beavers leave their family and begin to live independently only after reaching two years of age.
The area of the average beaver family’s “land” is about 3 km2. The male beaver marks the boundaries of this territory with a special odorous secretion - the so-called beaver stream. By the way, this substance is actively used in the perfume industry.
The beaver lodge is always located above the surface of the water, but the entrance to it is located strictly under water.
In the Belarusian city of Bobruisk, two beaver monuments have been erected.
Images of beavers can be found on the money of various countries. For example, beavers are depicted on the reverse of the 1937 Canadian five-cent bill and on the front side of the 1992 Belarusian three-ruble bill.
When a beaver gnaws a tree, its incisors work at a frequency of 5-6 movements per second. Interestingly, the animal’s incisors never become dull. The fact is that the front side of the tooth is covered with enamel, and the back is covered with soft dentin. Since dentin wears down much faster than enamel, the cutting edge of a beaver “working tool” always remains sharp. A similar principle is used in industrial production sharpening tools.
IN Ancient Rus' beaver skins had considerable value, several times higher than the cost of wolf and fox furs. For illegally catching a beaver, a huge fine of 12 hryvnia was imposed at that time.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, beaver pelts were accepted as money in the stores of the Canadian Hudson's Bay Company. For one beaver you could buy two knives, a handkerchief, four tablespoons, a pair of boots, about 4 liters of brandy, half a kilogram of gunpowder and other useful goods.
In the Middle Ages, in Catholic countries, beavers were considered fish, since they live most of the time under water and have a scaly tail. So Catholic monks feasted on beaver meat during Lent. I wonder what Orthodox Church, on the contrary, condemned the eating of beavers. Sometimes priests during confession even specifically asked their parishioners whether they had eaten beaver meat.
The beaver is an animal that is often found in European heraldry. His images appear on the coat of arms of the Norwegian Omli, the German Bevern, the Swiss Biberstein, the Polish Lomza, the French Webron and the Russian Iskitim and Tyumen.
Interesting fact: the coat of arms of Irkutsk is decorated with a babr - “Ussuri beaver tiger”. Of course, such an animal does not exist in reality, being the product of the wild imagination of heraldry specialists.
And finally, one more interesting fact about beavers: philologists are still arguing about how to say “beaver” or “beaver”. In Ozhegov’s dictionary, the word “beaver” refers to the animal itself, and the word “beaver” refers to its fur. Modern language norms allow the use of both options to denote a rodent, but “beaver” is still preferable.
With the sharpness of their teeth, which they can easily gnaw through trees, these hard workers can easily put any shark to shame. And their tails are distinguished by a certain grace and practicality. There are many rumors and legends about these animals. A BBC Earth correspondent looked into what is true and what is fiction in this folklore.
They say that: Beavers are very hardworking animals. They chew trees, but feed on fish. They have very cool tails, with the help of which they swim deftly.
And in fact:
Beavers actually work hard, but they don't eat fish - they are strict vegetarians. Their tails are capable of many things, but they are not a means of traction.
Beavers do not harm fish. Speaking of fish eaters, think of an otter tearing apart a desperately struggling trout.
You can understand why many people are misled and believe that fish serve as food for beavers. After all, they, after all, spend so much time in rivers.
But think for a moment and remember their powerful incisors. It will become obvious to you that beavers are herbivores that eat woody plants such as poplar, aspen, willow and birch.
Miracle teeth
The structure of the incisors is such that they have the ability to sharpen themselves.
The outer surface of a beaver's incisors is covered with hard enamel, and the inner surface is covered with dentin, a less dense substance that forms the base of the tooth.
Eurasian beaver and its miracle tooth
“When beavers chew, the softer dentin wears down faster than the hard enamel, leaving a sharp cutting edge,” says Frank Rosell of Telemark University College in Porsgrunn, Norway. He is the author of the book "The Eurasian Beaver".
To compensate for constant wear, the beaver's incisors grow at a very impressive rate - almost 0.5 cm per month. However, if a beaver happens to lose a tooth, it is doomed to catastrophic trouble.
In 1998, Rosell and his colleague Niels Kiele described a beaver with a hypertrophied incisor. Apparently, the tooth grew unimpeded without wear and tear for about three years. “The tooth grew at an angle and was aimed at the beaver’s left eye,” zoologists wrote in the article “Abnormal growth of the incisor in the Eurasian beaver.”
But when everything is functioning normally, and the upper and lower teeth are mutually sharpening each other, the beaver turns into an invincible gnawing force.
The beaver owes this in part to its powerful jaw muscles, which, when biting, develop much greater force relative to body size than most other rodents.
Armed with such teeth, beavers are capable of felling truly large trees.
The record trophy was an aspen tree in Telemark in southwestern Norway, which reached 20 meters in height and one meter in diameter, says Rosell.
Over one tree in different time several beavers can work, he adds. “This could take several years.”
Tail store
The beaver's tail, thanks to its wonderful properties, is worthy of special mention. It is, however, not a kind of engine that helps the beaver move through the water.
“When beavers swim underwater, they paddle only with their webbed hind feet,” says a study on beaver swimming dating back to 1997*.
A dam built by North American beavers in the Yellowstone National Wildlife Refuge
The beaver's tail serves more as a rudder, which helps the animal maintain its balance and guide it on its way to the hut. But this is not the only function of the tail.
“The tails of overweight individuals appear swollen,” noted one zoologist***. He describes large variations in beaver tail fat content throughout the year, from 50% in winter to 15% in summer.
This gives reason to believe that the beaver’s tail serves as a “pantry for storing fat.”
It also appears that beavers use their tail to regulate their body temperature. The tail does not have very strong thermal insulation, so when the beaver is hot, it can give off excess heat through the tail.
And finally, beavers use their tails as percussion instrument. They slap their tails on the water or ground, warning each other of danger.
Relatives
Despite all their innate abilities, now there are only two species of beavers - the Canadian or North American beaver (Castor canadensis) and the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber), also known as the common beaver***.
It wasn't always like this. During the Pleistocene there were even giant beavers. The largest animals from the beaver family (Castoroides) reached the height and weight of a tall person.
The beaver feels great underwater
The two surviving species of beaver are believed to have lived separately for 7.5 million years. However, in appearance they are surprisingly similar.
You can distinguish them from each other using simple analysis DNA. But if you don't have genetic tools at hand, there is another way.
Beavers have a powerful means of chemical communication. At one time there was a brisk trade in castoreum or "beaver stream" for use in the perfume and food industries.
This is an aromatic substance produced in the “castoreum sacs” located at the base of the tail, which animals use to mark their territory.
There is also anal gland secretion, which varies in color and viscosity depending on the sex and species of beaver from which the secretion is taken.
Armed with the appropriate data and a vial of beaver anal secretion, the sex and species of the animal can be determined with 100 percent accuracy, Rosell says.
A study by German scientists, conducted at the zoo in the city of Neumunster in Schleswig-Holstein, was devoted to the energy needs of beavers when swimming underwater. Zoologists observed beavers in an indoor pool with stagnant water and assessed the energy expenditure of beavers in movement and rest.
Michael Alexyuk, Canadian biologist and beaver specialist. Author scientific works, for example, about the diet and diet of beavers, as well as the story about these animals “Billy the Beaver,” the genre of which Aleksyuk defined as an “ecological allegory” of the 21st century.
The Eurasian beaver, sometimes called the Russian beaver, lives in Europe and Siberia, northern regions China. The Canadian beaver was introduced to Europe as an experiment and is now displacing native beavers in the Scandinavian countries and Russia.
Catholic monks for a long time They believed that beavers are fish, because they swim very well. At the same time, beavers are also good runners. They know from birth that they need to build houses on lakes. They have construction skills from birth. These creatures spend most of their time underwater, engaged in construction. Next, we suggest viewing more unique and interesting facts about beavers.
1. The beaver's tail resembles fish scales and tastes like fish.
2. An adult male beaver has the same weight as a child who is 8 years old.
3.Thanks to the transparent eyelids of beavers, they are able to see while swimming underwater.
4. Beavers’ ear, nostril and mouth openings close together, which helps them navigate under water.
5.Beavers can chew underwater due to their tight closure oral cavity.
6.Due to the fact that the beaver has large lungs and liver, it can stay under water for 15 minutes.
7. In most cases, beavers die because they are crushed by trees.
8. In 15 minutes, a beaver can swim more than 700 meters.
9.Coins were created in Russia in honor of the beaver.
10.The secretion of beavers contains great amount aspirin.
11.Beaver glands secrete a special liquid that repels water.
12. It was possible to establish that a beaver is capable of felling a tree that was 96 cm in diameter.
13. Beaver lands have become main reason Canadian War.
14. Indian tribes prayed to beavers before going hunting.
15. Baby beavers live with their parents until they are 2 years old.
16. Since childhood, little beavers, without training, intuitively understand what they need to do.
17. Beavers are considered more active at night and during the day.
18. The beaver’s nail plate is split into 2 halves, which allows them to comb themselves.
19.Under normal conditions, a bean can live about 13 years.
20. Once in captivity, a beaver lives 3 times longer than in natural conditions.
21.These animals love order and neatness.
22. The beaver has very small ears, but this does not prevent him from having excellent hearing.
23. The beaver’s teeth stick out, but no water enters the oral cavity.
24. Beavers are one of the calmest animals leading a measured life.
25.In winter, steam comes from the houses where beavers live.
26. The beaver reaches sexual maturity at the age of 2 years.
27. The entrance to the beaver's house is under water, but the house itself is located above it.
28.Beavers don't eat fish.
29.They mark the territory where beavers live with the secretion of musk glands.
30. The beaver is the largest European rodent.
31.Beavers hold the record for creating wooden dams.
32. In Bobruisk, 2 monuments were created in honor of beavers.
33.Beaver dams are visible from space.
34.Beavers were first seen in Asia.
35. Beaver fur is the most beautiful of all existing animal furs.
36.Beavers prefer to eat willow, poplar, and aspen among trees.
38.Beavers are considered good family men.
39. An adult beaver can weigh from 15 to 30 kg.
40. In Canada, beaver pelts were used instead of money.
41.Beaver skin is considered more valuable than fox skin.
42.The secretion of beaver glands is used to relieve headaches.
43. Perfumers use the secretion of beaver glands to create elite perfumes.
44.Beavers are vegetarians.
45. In order for a beaver to fell a tree whose thickness is 5-7 cm, it will only take 5 minutes.
46.The head of the beaver family is considered to be the female.
45. The incisors of beaver teeth never become dull.
46.The image of this animal can be seen on the coats of arms of different countries.
49. Today there are 2 varieties of beavers: European and Canadian.
50.Beavers are considered controllers of water levels in rivers.
51.In dry seasons, beavers live only under water.
52. Scientists managed to find the remains of beavers from the Pleistocene period.
53.King Solomon used beaver stream to treat headaches.
54.Procurement for the winter of one beaver family is up to 70 cubic meters.
55.Beavers hibernate throughout the winter.
56.As scientists say, the number of plant species that beavers eat does not exceed 300.
57.The key condition for the life of beavers is the availability of sufficient food.
58. The beaver is able to work on tougher tree species for several nights on end, gnawing it.
59.B autumn period Beavers' working hours may increase.
60. It happens that beavers feed on their own feces.
61. The beaver's den is always clean.
62. It’s always warm in the beaver house, even in 30-degree frosts.
63.If a beaver senses danger, then it immediately dives under the water, loudly slapping its tail on the water surface.
64.The slap of a beaver's tail on the water is usually an alarming signal for the rest of their family.
65.Beaver dams are so strong that you can walk along them from one bank to the other.
66.Newborn beavers weigh 500 grams.
67. Beaver cubs are born half-blind in the amount of 3-6 pieces.
68. Beavers are one of the few animals that can walk on 2 legs.
69. Gestation of small beaver cubs can last from 103 to 105 days.
70.Beavers usually give birth in April or May.
71.One beaver family consists of the brood of this and the previous year.
72. In ancient times, beavers were considered giants because they reached 3 meters in height.
73.A beaver makes about 5 movements with its lower teeth.
74.Today, there are approximately 340,000 beavers in Russia.
75.Beavers are not predatory animals.
76.The secretion of beavers contains musk, which retains its aromatic properties for a long time.
77. Only capybaras and capybaras that live in America can be larger than beavers.
78.Beavers attack people.
79.The name of this animal has a literal translation as “double brown.”
80.The hairs on a beaver's tail can only be seen near the base.
81.If a beaver is on land, then it is clumsy.
82.If the air temperature outside is very low, then beavers immediately feel it and stay in the home.
83.The beaver house is very similar to a labyrinth because it has many rooms.
84.Beavers communicate using a beaver tag.
85.The trunk of a tree that has been gnawed by a beaver is endowed with an “hourglass” shape.
86.The incisors of beaver teeth are sharpened themselves.
87.The vision of this animal is very weak, so it is compensated by a good sense of touch and hearing.
88.Beavers are considered monogamous animals.
89.These animals mate only under water.
90. No one will be able to meet a single beaver.
91. Under no circumstances will a beaver, having emerged from the water, leave it until it understands that there are no signs of danger.
92.January is considered the mating season for beavers.
93. Beavers already swim a few days after birth.
94. 3 weeks after birth, beavers begin to look for food.
95. This animal will begin to look for a new partner only after the death of the previous one.
96.Beavers are crepuscular animals.
97. A beaver is able to gnaw a tree, rising on 2 paws.
98.The leading edge of a beaver's teeth always remains clean.
99. The beaver is a very strong animal.
100.Before sunset, beavers prefer to have water activities, swim, and beat their tails on the water.
A story about beavers based on the book " Green Pages" The beaver is the “King of Rodents”, this page is dedicated to him.
The beaver is a representative of the order of rodents, which includes only two species - the common beaver (Latin: Castor fiber) and the Canadian beaver (Latin: Castor canadensis). These are some of the most large representatives a detachment of rodents that are second in size only to the capybara. The Canadian rodent differs from its European relative in having a less elongated body and a wider tail.
This is a large, massive animal; it is not for nothing that it is called the king of rodents. Its body length is from 1 to 1.2 m, reaching a weight of 30 kg. (Individuals can reach 32-33 kg.)
The “King of Rodents” has a squat body with short limbs, which have 5 fingers; the forelimbs are much weaker than the hind limbs. There are also membranes between the toes for swimming, which are more developed on hind limbs. The beaver's tail is massive, paddle-shaped, its length is 25-30 cm, width - 10-12 cm. The tail is practically devoid of hairline and is covered with keratinized scales (small hairs grow between them). At the top, in the middle of the tail, there is a ridge that makes the tail more rigid.
The “king” beaver has small eyes and small ears that close and prevent water from entering the ear canal. When diving under water, the beaver's nostrils also close. The front teeth (incisors), which the animal uses to gnaw, are separated from the oral cavity due to the special structure of the lips, so the beaver can easily get food under water without the threat of choking.
The king beaver's coat consists of two types of hair. Consists of long, coarse hair top part coat, under which is located the lower part - the undercoat, consisting of soft short hair. The peculiarity of its fur is that the undercoat never gets wet when immersed in water, so the beaver is always warm and dry, because only the upper part of the coat gets wet.
The fur color of the European beaver is often brown (black is very rare), the paws and tail are always black, like Canadian beavers, but among overseas relatives, black and brown colors are equally likely.
The beaver's habitat has quite large area. The common beaver lives in the basins of rivers such as the Rhone, Elbe, Vistula, in the forest and forest-steppe zones of the Central and of Eastern Europe, as well as Russia, Mongolia and China. Their habitat is limited to the south - steppe zone, and in the north – forest-tundra. The Canadian beaver lives in Alaska, almost throughout the United States (except for a few southern states), and is also found in northern Mexico. It was brought to Scandinavia, where it successfully took root.
Life of beavers in nature.
The beaver is an aquatic animal, so the life of beavers in nature passes
near bodies of water. Most often, this rodent chooses small rivers or streams, small lakes or small swamps in the forest. This is due to the peculiarities of feeding and living of these animals: they feed on shoots of young plants or aquatic vegetation. To live, they need a hole or hut, which they can take either after the previous owner, or build a new one (hut). On large bodies of water it is difficult to build a home and find food; it is also impossible to build a dam due to large sizes reservoir
The “King of Rodents” is a sedentary animal, so it can live in one territory all its life. They leave their homes only if living conditions deteriorate - lack of food, drying up of the reservoir or destruction of housing.
The beaver is famous for its building abilities. They can either dig a hole on the shore or build a hut in the middle of a pond. For burrows, they choose steep, slightly elevated banks. The burrow consists of several rooms, and the entrance to it is always located under water in order to protect itself and its offspring from predators.
If the river bank is not suitable for a hole, then a hut is built. In the center of the reservoir, the “foundation” of the future dwelling is built - first, the beaver applies clay to the selected place, and logs are placed on top of a thick layer of it. The hut is built on this “foundation” of small branches. It can reach large sizes - 8-10 m high and 12-15 m wide. As with burrows, the entrance to the home is located under water, and inside it there are several rooms.
However, the “engineering” abilities of beavers are not limited to digging holes and building huts. To combat the shallowing of reservoirs, these animals build dams. The technology is similar to the construction of huts - first a layer of clay is applied, logs are placed on top of it to create the foundation of a future dam, which are strengthened with small branches and clay. Thanks to this simple structure, the area of the water surface increases. The reservoir becomes deeper and larger, which leads to swamping of the banks and an increase in the food supply.
The breeding feature of beavers is permanent partner, which is rarely found in the nature of the animal world. Mating season occurs in mid-late winter. Pregnancy lasts a little over a hundred days, and 3 or 4 cubs are born in April or May. Unlike other representatives of their order, beaver cubs are born already covered with fur and are visible from the first day of birth. A couple of days after birth, beaver cubs can already swim, and after 20 days of life they can feed on herbaceous vegetation. However, cubs leave their parents only after 2 or 3 years, because It takes a long time to master construction skills.
Man turned his attention to this animal a very long time ago. The beaver is valued for its fur, which is perfectly processed and stored and is one of the most valuable types of fur among wild animals in Europe. Beaver meat is also valued, having excellent taste qualities(The tail meat is especially valuable, which is similar to both fish and the meat of an ordinary animal.)
Because of this “usefulness,” this animal has always been actively hunted, but it reached its peak with the advent of the bourgeois system, when beavers were killed by the thousands. Due to active hunting, the population of this rodent began to decline sharply, and by the beginning of the 20th century, about a thousand beavers remained in the wild. At that time, measures were already being taken to restore the numbers of this valuable species - hunting was practically prohibited, and many nature reserves and wildlife sanctuaries were created. This gave excellent results, and now the beaver population is not in danger - neither in Europe nor in North America.
The king of rodents is an amazing animal, and the stories about the life of beavers in the book “Green Pages are interesting!
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