Photo by Cheryl Reynolds, courtesy of Worth A Dam.
All about beavers
A young beaver grooming itself.
24 • 2019
Photo by Daderot.
B
eavers have shaped this land more than any animal except for humans. They have teeth fortified with iron that grow about four feet per year. Their front paws have almost-thumbs to help them grasp and manipulate things and their back paws are webbed. The more you learn about these incredible creatures the more amazing they become. And then a pair decide to set up house near your home or cottage. Oh boy. They will gnaw down trees as thick as 12 inches and can snip through trees under 5 inches in minutes. They build dams to flood an area that may include a road or part of your yard. The flooding will kill the trees in an area, leaving behind a graveyard of snags, stumps and water. And if you manage to trap the pair giving you trouble, a new pair will move in shortly. Take away the material they’re building into a dam and they’ll just rebuild after the sun goes down, again and again and again. But you must have patience, dear landowner, because you will have to negotiate your space with the
The beaver’s teeth are so powerful that it can gnaw down a tree as thick 12 inches in minutes.
beavers. You will have to accept that their “destruction” gives new life to an area. And if their building is truly unacceptable, you will need to contact your provincial ministry responsible for sustainable development or natural resources. The regulations are different in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario. Keystone species Beavers are a keystone species in Canada. They engineer environments around rivers and streams to suit their needs, drastically adjusting the flow of waterways and, in some cases, adding canals to get more trees to their lodges. They create wetlands. Now, more wetlands may not be what you’re looking for. They aren’t conducive to much that humans do; Issue 1
you can’t even go for a walk in a wetland. But consider that almost half of the endangered and threatened species in Canada live in wetlands. This includes songbirds, waterfowl, fish and amphibians. Beaver dams clean the water, too. By slowing the flow, more water seeps into the ground. The bottom of a beaver dam builds up bacteria that neutralizes pesticides and herbicides and also turns nitrates back into nitrogen gas, which returns it to the air. Concerns about “beaver fever”, or giardiasis, should be allayed. Beavers are a vector for giardiasis, but so are humans, birds and cows. Mating for life Beavers mate for life and the young stay with the parents for two years, helping out through the birth of younger siblings. One litter of two to four or as many as six is born per year, usually in May or June. The kits are born fully furred and with teeth, and their eyes open within a few hours, sometimes after being rubbed with their front paws. They may try out the water on their first day, but they stay in the lodge for up to five weeks. localgardener.net
