There are different animals that build their own homes, like wasps, termites, African weavers, moles, and other animals. But none of those homes compare to the beaver’s, which are built across watercourses. These barges are true feats of engineering that have the ability to permanently alter rivers and streams. They are usually seen in Canada, but they are also found in some parts of the United States, Europe and Asia.

Beavers, thought to be pests in some areas, build dams in order to control the flow of a stream and regulate the water level to their satisfaction, and keep it at that level. The artificial lake thus created ensures that they have enough water all year round to satisfy their ecological needs. The lake also provides benefits to other animals too, for example, the water will calm down and plants can grow. Where there are plants and water, insects like flies and mosquitoes can breed, fish have food to eat and places to hide, and amphibians like frogs and salamanders and eat the flies also. If there is tall grass or reeds, ducks and their young and swim in the calm waters, cranes and herons can eat fish and frogs, other mammals like deer can take drinks, and the whole area can be established to be a beautiful area. Without the beavers, the plants won’t grow since the water will run downstream too fast and will wash them away. The fly and mosquito eggs, fish, and frogs will run downstream, and if the animals went crazy, you might see a baby duckling being carried downstream also. So the beavers are pretty useful. But sometimes when the snow melts, the water runs into the lake and floods the whole area, and other animals have no homes. And sometimes when the beavers make a dam, one side has full access to water and the other side won’t since the water can’t run downstream and the plants will die and so will the other animals. So some people try to destroy the dams, but when the beavers hear a leak, they will repair it as fast as they can. Or if the whole dam is destroyed, they will just rebuild it. So they are captured and are brought to another area.

Beavers live in sizable colonies, or family groups, where a social power structure exists, like a family of mongoose. Each colony occupies a wide territory upstream form its particular dam. In addition to building dams, which they inspect regularly and repair with fresh earth and branches, they also construct very roomy, dome-shaped ‘lodges’. These are very sturdy structures and cannot be entered except by an underground tunnel which opens into the river below water level - an arrangement which allows the occupants to come and go without drawing attention to themselves.

Beavers are monogamous, and therefore live in pairs. The female gives birth to her litter of about 2 or 3 young after 105 to 107 days of gestation inside the cozy lodge. They are born blind but they look like miniature replicas of their parents. They will suckle for 8 weeks and will explore the lodge and will swim around the entrance of the lodge. They have webbed feet and a flat tail which makes it ideal for swimming. Their tail is also used to warn off other beavers by slapping it on the water to tell them that danger is near. They are quite big in size for 22 to 75 pounds, so they make a great meal.

After 8 weeks, beavers feed exclusively on the branches and trunks of trees. Their powerful incisor teeth make short work of gnawing though the base of the tree. Actually, they must, because like all rodents, their teeth keep on growing, not like human teeth where they grow and stop. They must chew on hard objects to keep their teeth in line or they will grow up their nose. (very pleasant.)

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