Our country is rich not only in its minerals, but also in the diversity of living beings leading aquatic or semi-aquatic lifestyles. One of the brightest representatives is the beaver. These hardworking animals spend the lion's share of their time in the aquatic environment, inhabiting streams, rivers, lakes. Let's find out why a beaver needs a dam, how he builds it, and what kind of life these animals lead in general.
Beaver - who is it?
The common beaver, or river beaver, is a semi-aquatic mammal belonging to the order of rodents. He is one of two modern representatives of the family of the same name. Its relative is the Canadian beaver. These creatures are considered the largest rodents of the animal world of the Old World.
The beaver dam (the photo is in the article) is an amazing creation, most reminiscent of a structure erected by man. Over time, people even began to use the construction skill of beavers for their own personal purposes. But we will talk about this later, but now we will find out how theseamazing "workaholics".
The appearance of the animal
Beavers are fairly large rodents, fully adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle. The body length of the male can reach 1.5 meters, and the height at the withers - up to 36 centimeters. Adults weigh up to 33 kilograms.
The body of beavers is squat and barrel-shaped. The limbs are five-fingered, but shortened. The hind legs are much stronger than the front. Since beavers spend most of their lives in the water, they have special swimming membranes between their fingers.
Beaver fur is one of the most beautiful and consists of coarse guard hairs. The underfur is thick but silky. The color of the coat is heterogeneous, since its color depends on the heredity of the beavers. The color of the body can vary from light chestnut to dark brown. Legs and tail are usually black.
Lifestyle
As has been repeatedly said, these animals lead a semi-aquatic lifestyle. They prefer to settle along the banks of slowly flowing streams, ponds, lakes, reservoirs, quarries and irrigation canals. Beavers will never live in wide and fast rivers, as well as in reservoirs that freeze to the very bottom in winter.
Since the dam built by beavers consists of various types of wood, when choosing a place of residence for these animals, the presence of shrubs and trees along the banks of the reservoir, mostly soft hardwoods, is crucial. A large role in this is played by the abundance of aquatic and coastal vegetation (includingherbs) that form the basis of their diet.
As you know, these animals live both singly and in groups. Usually a complete family includes 5-7 individuals - a married couple and young animals from the past and current years. These rodents mark the boundaries of their own territories with the help of the secretion of the musk glands, which are part of the so-called beaver stream.
River "engineers"
Beavers have earned wide popularity and universal respect as skilled four-legged "civil engineers", as well as lumberjacks and creators of unique dams. These animals have become not only a symbol of perseverance and hard work, but also passed on some experience to people. The fact is that the beaver dam is a real breakthrough in construction and a ready-made engineering solution that a person borrowed from these river inhabitants!
Scientists have noticed that beavers that live near large bodies of water may not build any dams at all. It is enough for them to simply dig a hole for themselves in a steep bank. But this is more the exception than the norm. Nevertheless, these animals became famous for their phenomenal ability to block entire streams with dams, as well as for the valuable skill of building hut-islands impregnable for enemies.
How do beavers build their dams?
The beaver dam is being built as follows. Animals first gnaw the base of the tree, after which it falls. The fallen trunk is the finished foundation of the dam. The next step is to strengthen it. Beavers do this with branches, rubble, silt, clay and stones. It is curious that they repair their structures with the help of the samethe most "improvised" means.
Why are they building dams?
The beaver dam (photo below) is needed primarily to change the direction of the river flow. This, in turn, is necessary for the animals in order for the water to flood other territories, forming a pond there. It is in this place that the beaver will build a hut (dwelling) for itself.
By the way, to build houses, river "engineers" use the same tools as when building dams: clay, sticks, stones, silt, branches of shrubs and trees.
The beaver dam is perhaps the most important part of their life. Without such activities, they simply will not survive: the animals will have nowhere to store food supplies, spend the night, winter and hide from enemies!
What are the dimensions of the dams?
A beaver dam under water can reach a thickness of more than 3 meters, while at the top they narrow to 60 centimeters. Zoologists who have made natural observations of these rodents claim that their structures are so strong that they can easily support not only a person, but also a whole horse!
What do beaver huts look like?
These houses look like inverted cups. A well-built beaver dam will protect them from enemies, and water will never flood their homes. Therefore, animals have nothing to fear. Huts usually have two rooms. Beavers fill one of them with small gravel, and the other with food supplies.
