Beavers life and habitat. Beavers are industrious river engineers

The common beaver is a semi-aquatic animal, which is classified as a rodent. Otherwise, this representative of the family is called river because the rodent prefers to live in the corresponding water sources. The animal is able to hit even the most experienced person who deals with such animals. He perfectly builds housing, takes care of offspring and gets food. According to its overall features, this rodent is the second of the largest. In today's material we will consider everything connected with it.

Description

The largest animal among rodents is the capybara, the beaver takes second place with honor. The mammal is famous for its overall features, which gives it an awesome look. Such animals prefer to lead a semi-aquatic existence.
If we consider their dimensions, then adult animals can grow up to 1.3 m along the body, you see, it's impressive. At the same time, the shoulders grow up to 35 cm, and the body weight fluctuates in the range of 30 kg. Differences in sex between these individuals are poorly expressed. We can only say that the females are slightly larger than the males.
The body format is squat, the limbs are short, with five fingers. The hind limbs are considered the most developed, they have emphasis. Due to the fact that animals prefer to live mostly in the water, their spaces between the fingers are equipped with membranes. The claws are strong and strong, inflicting lacerations in the process of collisions.
The tail is given special attention. It has no fur on it. The tail looks like an oval, elongated and very flat. It grows up to 30 cm in length, and is about 13 cm in width. Some individuals may have hairs in the main part. The tail itself seems to be covered with keratinized particles-scales. Between them there is a very short and hard pile. The upper part is characterized by the presence of a keel.
Despite the fact that these individuals are classified as large-sized, their eyes are small. The ears are also not famous for their stateliness, they are hidden under the coat and practically do not stand out against the background of the head. When the animal descends into the body of water, its nostrils close, as do the openings in its ears. The membranes descend on the eyes, which are called blinking.
Rootless type is characteristic of the root dentition. However, a separate root system may be present in adults due to age characteristics. The incisors are located at the back of the mouth. They are growths that are isolated from the mouth. It is this feature that allows animals to gnaw whatever they want in the aquatic environment.
Animal fur is pigmented with black, dark brown, brownish, chestnut shades. It is famous for the presence of a dense pillow with oily impregnation. The guard hair itself is hard and elongated. The paws are painted black, as is the tail, although the latter may also have a dark gray pigment. Molting is carried out once a year. It begins at the end of spring, ends with the beginning of winter or the end of autumn.
The anal zone is equipped with paired glands, as well as a beaver stream, the main purpose of which is to signal the gender and other characteristics of a particular individual. Their jets exude a secret with an enhanced odor. This aroma allows other individuals to orient themselves among the entire beaver settlement and single out a particular member of the pack.

Lifestyle

Discussed members of the family prefer to live near slow-flowing water sources, whether they are rivers or storage facilities. They also like completely stagnant springs, such as ponds or lakes. Beavers occupy the coast line and spread out in this area. They do not mind settling in quarries or oxbow lakes. They are completely removed from water sources with a fast current, as well as those places that freeze almost to the bottom in winter.
These individuals require vegetation that grows in the coastal part. They prefer shrubs and wood, they love larches. Also like herbs, which form the basis of the diet.
Animals are both excellent divers and swimmers. Their lungs are huge, as is their liver. All this allows you to get enough air to swim the required distance and stay in the water for up to 15 minutes. When a mammal gets ashore, it feels unsafe, looks awkward.
When danger is brewing, rodents with all their might begin to spank their tail-shovel along the water surface, then they also quickly hide in the aquatic environment. They thus sound the alarm for all other members of the family so that they disappear in a timely manner.
Accommodation is carried out singly or in small groups. A family can consist of 7 individuals, which are represented by a couple and their offspring. If a family occupies a certain territory, then it is registered with it for several more years and even more.
If the body of water is comparatively small, it can be occupied by a bachelor or a small family. But larger plots are given to groups. Beavers try not to move further than 150 m from water bodies, because this increases the risk to life.
These individuals bypass their possessions, after which they mark the borders with a secret that calls not to leave their homes. As for the period of activity, these mammals prefer to stay awake at dusk or at night.
With the onset of the autumn or spring season, adult members of the family leave their homes in the evening, after which they work throughout the night. When cold or frost sets in, these individuals very rarely come to the surface.

Lifespan

Considering the period of existence in the natural environment, we can say that in such conditions they reach up to 15 years. If you keep mammals in captivity, they will live for about 20-25 years. Life is shortened due to the presence of enemies in nature and some diseases characteristic of these rodents.
Even if we take into account that animals are famous for their excellent immune systems, they can still get sick. Among the most common ailments, there is an infection, including tularemia. Because of it, animals simply die.
Also, the population is affected by special weather conditions, including winter floods. For example, they can take the life of more than half of the beaver population. And spring floods lead to the death of young animals that are not adapted to such situations.

population

Discussed individuals, classified as common or Eurasian segment, have long inhabited the countries of Europe and Asia, respectively. But at some point, beavers began to be hunted ruthlessly, which led to a significant reduction in the population. Today the population is very small, it is practically on the verge of extinction.
At the beginning of the 19th century, these rodents did not remain at all in almost all territories of the above countries. In the 20th century, the population numbered about 1300 individuals. They created groups that monitored the population and punished violators. Therefore, the number of beavers has increased in Europe, while in Asia it is still recovering, but slowly.

Meaning

The presented mammals began to be hunted due to the fact that their fur is very much appreciated. They also caught rodents for the beaver stream, which is often used in the production of perfumery, pharmacology, and medicine.
The meat of this animal is considered a delicacy. Catholics even equate it with lean varieties. However, it is now known that the beaver can carry salmonellosis, partly because of this, its meat has ceased to be consumed in such quantities.

Characteristics

It is worth noting that the presented individuals live in burrows. Such dwellings are sometimes called huts. An interesting fact remains that the entrance to their house is always located under water. Most often, rodents begin to dig a hole on a steep, steep bank. Such a dwelling is presented in the form of a complex labyrinth.
In addition, the house has several entrances. Beavers are responsible for construction. They try to compact the shelf part and the walls tightly. In addition, mammals most often build a hut where, as it may seem, there are no conditions for such actions.
Burrows are often found in swampy, low and gently sloping shores. He is on the shallows. Individuals begin to build as soon as summer comes to an end. The finished dwelling is a cone-shaped hole. At the same time, the height in diameter is really amazing, it can reach up to 10 m.
Animals try to carefully finish the walls with clay and silt. Thanks to this feature, this fortress is almost impregnable for predators and other pests. Such beavers are clean animals. In no case will they litter their house with excrement or pieces of food.
The famous platinum beavers begin to build if the beaver family lives on a reservoir, in which the water level often changes. Trees that have fallen into the water often act as a powerful frame base. As a result, beavers try to cover the trunk with all available materials.
Finished platinum can have a length of up to 30 m. At the same time, the base reaches up to 6 m, and the height is up to 5 m. It is worth noting an interesting fact that in the state of Montana on the Jefferson River, beavers built a dam of incredible size. Its length reached as much as 0.7 km.! Animals begin to cut down trees to provide forage and for building needs.
Beavers gnaw at the very base of tall trees. After that, the animal can gnaw on the branches. If the tree is large, then the rodent divides the trunk into several parts. Aspen with a diameter of up to 10 cm can be felled by a beaver in just a few minutes. If the tree has a diameter of up to half a meter, the animal will knock it down in less than a night.
During this, the beavers lean on their tail and stand on their hind legs. At the same time, their teeth begin to work like a saw. During this procedure, the fangs of the beavers sharpen themselves. They consist of very strong and hard dentine. Small branches that have been felled are eaten by the animals themselves.
The remaining building materials are sent by water towards the construction of a dam or dwelling. During the construction process, beavers tread paths, which are soon filled with water. Most often they are called "beaver channels". They are used to ferry tree fodder. After a long work, the area takes on an unusual look. In the course of this, it is called the "beaver landscape".

diet

The individuals in question belong to the category of animals that strictly feed on products of exclusively plant origin. These semi-aquatic mammals prefer only plant shoots and tree bark.
Often, animals like to feast on willow, aspen, poplar or birch. Beavers are very fond of herbaceous plants. Among these, the most popular are iris, egg capsule, young reed, water lily and cattail.
Beavers begin to actively live in the territory where there is a large amount of softwood. In addition, the daily diet of these mammals often includes hazel, elm, linden and bird cherry. Oak and alder cannot be found on the menu of beavers. Such material is used exclusively for construction purposes and for arranging your own home.
It remains interesting that beavers are very fond of acorns. And daily in their diet, such a product is about 20% of the total mass of the animal itself. River beavers do an excellent job with any solid food of plant origin without any problem. This is achieved through a powerful bite and large teeth.
It is worth noting that beavers almost always consume only a few tree species for food. If they switch to a new type of food, they will need a long adaptation. The microflora in the intestines must be completely rebuilt to a new type of menu. As soon as the warm period sets in, a large amount of grassy food begins to enter the diet of beavers.
With the onset of autumn, beavers begin to prepare food for the winter. Interestingly, animals put woody food into the water. Thanks to this, the product fully retains its taste and nutritional qualities until the onset of February. On average, the food supply for one family is up to 70 cubic meters.

reproduction

As for puberty, individuals reach it only at 3 years of age. Animals most often stay in rut from the end of February to the end of March. At this time, beavers begin to crawl out of their winter shelters and roam the snow. They also often swim in the thawed polynya. They actively mark the territory with a beaver stream.
Among other things, not only males do this, but also females who have reached puberty. Interestingly, the mating process occurs exclusively in water. After a little more than 3 months, up to 5 cubs are born. The number of young animals will directly depend on the age of the female. Old beavers bring more beavers than young ones.
As soon as the young are born, in the first days they feed exclusively on mother's milk. When babies are more than 3 weeks old, plant foods begin to be present in their diet. The mother stops breastfeeding the beaver cubs when they are about 2 months old.
In addition, it is at this time that the incisors begin to actively develop in the young. Therefore, beavers go after their parents to nibble something. They become completely independent by the age of 2 years. At this age, they are already starting to build their own home.

In today's material, we will consider the second largest mammal, which belongs to the order of rodents. Beavers can grow over 1 m in size, they are excellent builders and parents. Due to fishing and constant hunting, the population has declined significantly, but in this century they are fighting for its restoration.

Video: common beaver (Castor fiber)

The river beaver lives in the freshwater environment of lakes, rivers, ponds, streams. This animal has recently been on the verge of extinction. This situation has developed through the fault of humanity, which likes to wear warm hats and fur coats.

The entire life of a beaver is connected with the aquatic environment. To make it easier for the animal to swim, membranes are located on its hind legs, and a large tail also helps.

The beaver reaches a weight of up to 23 kg, and a length of 135 cm. Females are always smaller than males. The beaver is characterized by a blunt muzzle, small ears and short legs. The beaver's fur consists of several layers: the first layer is coarse red-brown hair, the second is a gray undercoat that prevents hypothermia.

The reservoirs in which beavers live should be in a forested area, be deep and with a slow current. Often, animals create artificial conditions, "crafting" huge dams from tree branches, algae, and silt.

Beavers diligently build a dam in order to change the direction of the flow of water. Under water, the beaver dam can be up to 3 meters thick, and from above it narrows to about 60 cm. The strength of the dam is surprising, it can easily withstand the weight of a horse!

Beavers purposefully change the water flow so that water floods dry places and a pond is formed in which the animal will build a hut. Their house resembles an inverted cup. There are 2 rooms in the house: a family of beavers lives in one, this room is filled with rubble. And near the exit, the second room is a pantry with food supplies for the winter. The beaver's house can be seen above the surface of the water. But for the purpose of protection, the entrance is located under. water.

Schematic representation of a beaver dam and a house. As you can see, the house is a separate building.

From the house, as expected, there are two exits: front and emergency.

This is all fine, of course, but why are beavers worth a dam? The answer is simple, in winter these rodents remain active and they need a dam of sufficient depth so that it does not freeze to the very bottom. The dam just helps to raise the water level. In general, you need to prepare well for the winter, otherwise a skiff :-).

Film: "Beavers. Great builders." From the cycle "Alone with Nature".

An interesting video about the life of beavers. By the way, did you know that beaver dams have the shape of an arc concave against the current, and all modern dams built by man have the same shape. And it is no coincidence that an arc concave against the current can best withstand the pressure of water. At the last minute, it’s generally a frenzy 🙂

Film for children: All about animals [Beavers].

Idyllic video: Beaver washes his head / Beaver Resting.

A beaver can also get along with people without difficulty: “They sheltered a beaver (Beaver Semyon).”

Semyon. Continuation.

However, in spoken language beaver commonly used as a synonym for the word beaver(as a fox and fox, ferret and ferret).

Origin

The beaver has beautiful fur, which consists of coarse guard hairs and a very thick silky underfur. The color of the fur is from light chestnut to dark brown, sometimes black. The tail and limbs are black. Molt once a year, in late spring, but continues almost until winter. In the anal area there are paired glands, wen and directly the beaver stream itself, which secretes a strongly smelling secret - beaver stream. The prevailing opinion about the use of wen as a lubricant for fur from getting wet is erroneous. The secret of wen performs a communicative function, exclusively carrying information about the owner (gender, age). The smell of a beaver stream serves as a guide to other beavers about the border of the territory of a beaver settlement; it is unique, like fingerprints. The secret of wen, used in conjunction with the jet, allows you to keep the beaver mark in a “working” state longer due to the oily structure, which evaporates much longer than the secret of the beaver stream.

Spreading

In early historical times, the common beaver was distributed throughout the forest-meadow zone of Europe and Asia, however, due to intensive hunting by the beginning of the 20th century, the beaver was practically exterminated in most of its range. The current range of the beaver is largely the result of acclimatization and reintroduction efforts. In Europe, it lives in the Scandinavian countries, the lower reaches of the Rhone (France), the Elbe basin (Germany), the Vistula basin (Poland), in the forest and partly forest-steppe zones of the European part of Russia. In Russia, the beaver is also found in the Northern Trans-Urals. Scattered habitats of the common beaver are found in the upper reaches of the Yenisei, the Kuzbass, the Baikal region, in the Khabarovsk Territory, in Kamchatka. In addition, it is found in Mongolia (Urungu and Bimen rivers) and in Northeast China (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region).

Lifestyle

beaver lodge

In early historical times, beavers ubiquitously inhabited the forest, taiga and forest-steppe zones of Eurasia, along the floodplains reaching the forest-tundra to the north, and semi-deserts to the south. Beavers prefer to settle along the banks of slowly flowing rivers, oxbow lakes, ponds and lakes, reservoirs, irrigation canals and quarries. They avoid wide and fast rivers, as well as reservoirs that freeze to the bottom in winter. For beavers, it is important to have trees and shrubs of soft hardwoods along the banks of the reservoir, as well as an abundance of aquatic and coastal herbaceous vegetation that makes up their diet. Beavers are excellent swimmers and divers. Large lungs and liver provide them with such reserves of air and arterial blood that beavers can stay under water for 10-15 minutes, swimming up to 750 m during this time. On land, beavers are rather clumsy.

Beavers live alone or in families. A complete family consists of 5-8 individuals: a married couple and young beavers - offspring of the past and current years. A family plot is sometimes occupied by a family for many generations. A small reservoir is occupied by one family or a single beaver. In larger water bodies, the length of the family plot along the coast ranges from 0.3 to 2.9 km. Beavers rarely move more than 200 m from water. The length of the site depends on the amount of food. In areas rich in vegetation, the plots may touch and even intersect. Beavers mark the boundaries of their territory with the secret of musky glands - beaver stream. Marks are applied to special mounds of mud, silt and branches 30 cm high and up to 1 m wide. Beavers communicate with each other using odorous marks, postures, tail blows on the water and screams resembling a whistle. In danger, a swimming beaver slaps its tail loudly on the water and dives. The clap serves as an alarm to all beavers within earshot.

beaver footprint

Beavers are active at night and at dusk. In summer, they leave their dwellings at dusk and work until 4-6 in the morning. In autumn, when fodder for the winter begins, the working day lengthens to 10-12 hours. In winter, activity decreases and shifts to daylight hours; at this time of the year, beavers hardly show up on the surface. At temperatures below -20 ° C, animals remain in their homes.

Huts and dams

Beavers live in burrows or huts. The entrance to the beaver's dwelling is always located under water. Beavers burrow in steep banks; they are a complex labyrinth with 4-5 entrances. The walls and ceiling of the burrow are carefully leveled and compacted. The living chamber inside the burrow is arranged at a depth of no more than 1 m. The width of the living chamber is a little more than a meter, and the height is 40-50 centimeters. The floor must be 20 centimeters above the water level. If the water in the river rises, the beaver lifts the floor as well, scraping the earth from the ceiling. Sometimes the ceiling of the burrow collapses and a flooring of branches and brushwood is laid in its place, turning the burrow into a transitional type of shelter - a semi-hut. In spring, during high water, beavers build beds of twigs and twigs on the tops of bushes with dry grass litter.

Beaver tracks

Huts are built in places where burrowing is impossible - on low swampy banks and on shallows. Beavers rarely start building new housing before the end of August. The huts look like a cone-shaped pile of brushwood, fastened with silt and earth, up to 1-3 m high and up to 10-12 m in diameter. The walls of the hut are carefully coated with silt and clay, so that it turns into a real fortress, impregnable for predators; air enters through the ceiling. Despite popular belief, beavers apply clay with their front paws, not their tail (their tail serves only as a rudder). Inside the hut there are manholes into the water and a platform rising above the water level. With the first frost, the beavers additionally insulate the huts with a new layer of clay. In winter, the temperature remains above zero in the huts, the water in the manholes does not freeze, and the beavers have the opportunity to go out into the under-ice of the reservoir. In severe frosts, steam rises above the huts, which is a sign of habitability of housing. Sometimes in the same settlement of beavers there are both huts and burrows. Beavers are very clean, they never litter their homes with leftover food and excrement.

In reservoirs with changing water levels, as well as on small streams and rivers, beaver families build their famous dams (dams). This allows them to raise, maintain and regulate the water level in the reservoir. Dams are built below the beaver town from tree trunks, branches and brushwood, held together with clay, silt, pieces of driftwood and other materials that beavers bring in their teeth or front paws. If the reservoir has a fast current and there are stones at the bottom, they are also used as building material. The weight of stones can reach 15-18 kg.

Beaver dam (Vologda region)

For the construction of the dam, places are chosen where trees grow closer to the edge of the coast. Construction begins with beavers sticking branches and trunks vertically into the bottom, reinforcing the gaps with branches and reeds, filling the voids with silt, clay and stones. As a supporting frame, they often use a tree that has fallen into the river, gradually surrounding it from all sides with building material. Sometimes the branches in beaver dams take root, giving them extra strength. The usual length of the dam is 20-30 m, the width at the base is 4-6 m, at the crest - 1-2 m; height can reach 4.8 m, although usually - 2 m. The old dam can easily withstand the weight of a person. The record in the construction of dams belongs, however, not to ordinary, but to Canadian beavers - a dam built by them on the river. Jefferson (Montana), reached a length of 700 m. The shape of the dam depends on the speed of the current - where it is slow, the dam is almost straight; on fast rivers, it is curved in the direction of the current. If the current is very strong, beavers erect small additional dams up the river. A dam is often provided with a runoff to prevent flooding from breaking through. On average, it takes a beaver family about a week to build a 10 m dam. Beavers carefully monitor the safety of the dam and patch it in case of a leak. Sometimes several families are involved in the construction, working "in shifts".

Beaver Dam (Northern California)

A great contribution to the study of the behavior of beavers during the construction of dams was made by the Swedish ethologist Wilson () and the French zoologist Richard ( , ). It turned out that the main stimulus for construction is the noise of flowing water. Possessing excellent hearing, beavers accurately determined where the sound had changed, which means that changes had occurred in the structure of the dam. At the same time, they did not even pay attention to the absence of water - in the same way, beavers reacted to the sound of water recorded on a tape recorder. Further experiments showed that sound is apparently not the only stimulus. So, the pipe laid through the dam, the beavers clogged with silt and branches, even if it passed along the bottom and was "inaudible". At the same time, it remains not completely clear how beavers distribute responsibilities among themselves during collective work.

Canal dug by beavers

For construction and forage, beavers fell trees, gnaw them at the base, gnaw off branches, then divide the trunk into parts. A beaver fells an aspen with a diameter of 5-7 cm in 5 minutes; a tree with a diameter of 40 cm fells and butchers during the night, so that by morning only a skinned stump and a bunch of shavings remain at the place of work of the animal. The trunk of a tree gnawed by a beaver acquires a characteristic hourglass shape. The beaver gnaws, rising on its hind legs and leaning on its tail. Its jaws act like a saw: in order to fell a tree, the beaver rests its upper incisors against its bark and begins to quickly move its lower jaw from side to side, making 5-6 movements per second. The beaver's incisors are self-sharpening: only their front side is covered with enamel, the back consists of less hard dentine. When a beaver gnaws on something, the dentin wears down faster than the enamel, so the front edge of the tooth stays sharp all the time.

Beavers eat part of the branches of a fallen tree on the spot, others are demolished and towed or floated along the water to their dwelling or to the construction site of the dam. Every year, walking the same routes for food and building materials, they tread paths on the shore, which are gradually flooded with water - beaver canals. On them they fuse wood fodder. The length of the channel reaches hundreds of meters with a width of 40-50 cm and a depth of up to 1 m. Beavers always keep the channels clean.

Nutrition

Tree gnawed by a beaver

Beaver "dining room" in the aspen forest. Ivanovo region, Savinsky district

Beavers are strictly herbivorous. They feed on bark and shoots of trees, preferring aspen, willow, poplar and birch, as well as various herbaceous plants (water lily, egg capsule, iris, cattail, reed, etc., up to 300 items). The abundance of softwood trees is a necessary condition for their habitat. Hazel, lime, elm, bird cherry and some other trees are of minor importance in their diet. Alder and oak are not eaten, but are used for buildings. The daily amount of food is up to 20% of the beaver's weight. Large teeth and a powerful bite allow beavers to easily cope with hard plant foods. Food rich in cellulose is digested with the participation of the microflora of the intestinal tract. Usually, the beaver eats only a few tree species; to switch to a new diet, it needs an adaptation period, during which microorganisms adapt to a new diet.

In summer, the proportion of grassy foods in the diet of beavers increases. In autumn, beavers are engaged in the preparation of tree fodder for the winter. Stocks of beavers are put into the water, where they retain their nutritional qualities until February. The volume of stocks can be huge - up to 60-70 cubic meters per family. To prevent food from freezing into the ice, beavers usually heat it below the water level under steep overhanging banks. Thus, even after the pond freezes, food remains available for beavers under the ice.

reproduction

Beaver with a cub

Beavers are monogamous, the female is dominant. Offspring bring 1 time per year. The mating season lasts from mid-January to late February; mating takes place in the water under the ice. Pregnancy lasts 105-107 days. Cubs (1-6 in a brood) will be born in April - May. They are semi-sighted, well pubescent, weigh an average of 0.45 kg. After 1-2 days they can already swim; mother teaches beaver cubs, literally pushing them into the underwater corridor. At the age of 3-4 weeks, beaver cubs switch to feeding on leaves and soft stems of grasses, but the mother continues to feed them with milk for up to 3 months. The grown up young usually do not leave their parents for another 2 years. Only at the age of 2, young beavers reach puberty and move out.

In captivity, the beaver lives up to 35 years, in nature 10-17 years.

The impact of beavers on the environment

The appearance of beavers in rivers and especially the construction of dams by them has a beneficial effect on the ecology of aquatic and riverine biotopes. Numerous mollusks and aquatic insects settle in the resulting spill, which in turn attract desmans and waterfowl. Birds on legs bring fish caviar. Fish, once in favorable conditions, begin to multiply. Trees felled by beavers serve as food for hares and many ungulates, which gnaw bark from trunks and branches. Butterflies and ants love the juice flowing from undermined trees in the spring, followed by birds. Beavers are protected by desmans, and muskrats often live in their huts together with their owners. Dams contribute to water purification, reducing its turbidity; silt lingers in them.

At the same time, beaver dams can harm human buildings. There are cases when spills arranged by beavers flooded and eroded streets and railway tracks, and even caused wrecks.

Population status and economic importance

Beavers have long been hunted for their beautiful and durable fur. In addition to valuable furs, they provide beaver plume, used in perfumery and medicine. Beaver meat is edible; however, they are natural carriers of salmonellosis pathogens. (It is curious that in the Catholic tradition, beaver meat is considered lean, since the beaver, according to church canons, was considered a fish because of its scaly tail.)

As a result of predatory fishing, the common beaver was on the verge of extinction: by the beginning of the 20th century, only 6-8 isolated populations remained (in the basins of the Rhone, Elbe, Don, Dnieper, in the Northern Trans-Urals, the upper reaches of the Yenisei), totaling 1200 heads. In order to preserve this valuable animal, a number of effective measures have been taken in European countries to protect and restore numbers. They started with a ban on hunting beavers, established in 1845 in Norway. By 1998, the beaver population in Europe and Russia was already estimated at 430,000 heads.

The common beaver has a minimum risk status on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The West Siberian and Tuva subspecies of the common beaver are listed in the Red Book of Russia. The main threat to it at present is land reclamation, water pollution and the construction of hydroelectric power stations. Detergents that pollute water bodies wash away the natural protective layer and degrade the quality of beaver fur.

Beavers in Russia

where the shore of the Grand Duke is summed up with the boyars, then drive the beavers. And the beavers of the Grand Duke and the boyars and divide the beavers in the old days, and the boyars do not keep nets and goats and sedges and do not set up beavers and baskets. And where the princely or boyar shore is special, but the shore of the grand duke did not come, here they put beacons and ladles, and keep dogs, and nets, as best they could, so catch a beaver.

Left traces or tools for catching beavers imposed an obligation on the verv (community) to either look for a thief or pay a fine. In those days, beavers were caught with nets and traps. Later, by the 17th century, the number of beavers had already noticeably decreased, and their fishing moved mainly to Siberia. In 1635 it was already forbidden to trap beavers. In the Trading Book of the 16th century, the usual price for a black beaver is 2 r. Judging by the degree of collection of duties (1586, Novgorod), the beaver was about 1.3 times more valuable

Among all the rodents that live on our planet, the largest in the Old World is river beaver. It usually lives in both rivers and lakes. You can find many enthusiastic descriptions and reviews about this animal, as it amazes a person with its diligence. It personifies order, is often found in fairy tales, and acts there as a positive hero. But what is a river beaver, where does it live and what species does it exist?

Origin of the species and description

Unfortunately, most people know about this animal only by hearsay. Not everyone can even pronounce its name correctly. For example, the word "beaver" is confused with "beaver". Meanwhile, the second word denotes the name of the fur of this animal. Although in the spoken language no one adheres to these rules.

Video: River beaver

The beaver family is known on different continents. It is known about 22 genera, and for the first time this species of animals appears in Asia. Some varieties were very large. To our time, fossilized remains have been preserved, which scientists date back to the Eocene.

The most famous beaver, whose species has disappeared for a very long time, is a giant that has existed since the Pleistocene. Science knows about its two varieties - this is the Siberian Trogontherium cuvieri, as well as the North American Castoroides ohioensis.

If the calculations were carried out correctly, then according to the skull fossils, the height of the animal reached 2.75 m, and its total weight was 350-360 kg. That is, it was similar in size to a brown bear. The modern species of the beaver used to live in Europe and Asia, almost everywhere in the forest-meadow zone. But by the beginning of the 20th century, this animal was practically exterminated in most of the planet because of its valuable fur.

Appearance and features

Today, only 2 surviving beaver species can be found in nature. We are talking about an ordinary beaver, which can be found on the territory of Eurasia, as well as a Canadian species that lives in North America. In their appearance, no differences were found between them. Yes, and habits they are very similar, have the same size.

But, as recent studies have shown, the differences between them are observed at the genetic level. The European beaver has 48 chromosomes, while its relative from the American continent has only 40. This means that these two species cannot be crossed to produce a new variety.

There are several features of the beaver regarding its appearance, general physical image:

if you do not take into account the length of the tail, the animal can grow up to 1 meter in length;
tail length can be from 0.4 to 0.5 m;
if it is a young beaver, its weight is usually 30-32 kg;
an old male can gain weight up to 45 kg;
the average life span of this rodent is 15-17 years;
such an animal does not stop growing until death. If you compare a male with a female, then the female is usually larger.

The color of the beaver's fur is brown in most cases. But it all depends on his age, so the fur can be either red or completely black. These animals love to care for him, constantly combing. To do this, they use their hind legs, which have forked claws. During combing, the fur is immediately covered with a special fatty secret. Thanks to this, the “fur coat” of the beaver does not get wet even after a long stay in the water.

The fur of the river beaver has two compositions: hard guard hairs, as well as soft and at the same time dense fluffy undercoat. This is a very good protection of the animal from hypothermia.

But the beaver has another protection from the cold - a thick layer of subcutaneous fat. The head of the animal, when compared with the body, is large. The muzzle is narrow, and the eyes with ears are small. The main feature of this animal is two large protruding incisors. Yes, and his teeth are unusual, distinguished by self-sharpening, and they grow all his life. His paws are five-fingered, with membranes, thanks to which it is easier for him to move in the water. And the claws are not only large, but also rounded. The hind legs are much more developed than the front ones.

The second feature of the beaver is its tail, which looks like the oar of a boat. He has it completely flat, and besides, it is covered not with wool, but with dense horny scales. In the middle of the entire tail is the same horny "keel". The tail can be up to 13 cm wide and in the water it is used for quick maneuverability and swimming.

Where does the beaver live?

Beavers are considered semi-aquatic rodents, as they can stay on both land and water for a long time. Usually they only swim, although they can dive.

On the territory of the European continent, this animal can be found in different places:

in the Scandinavian countries, as there are many lakes and a wooded area;
in France, and usually only the lower Rhone;
on the territory of Germany, mainly we are talking about the Elbe River basin;
in Poland, usually the Vistula basin.

If we take into account the countries of the former USSR, then here beavers are found in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Usually this is the European forest-steppe part of these states.

Since this animal is under protection today, it can be found almost throughout Russia. It is found both in China and Mongolia. Finding out the habitat of this rodent is very simple. It is enough to see if there are fallen trees near the reservoirs, and everything will immediately become clear. But only the place of the cut should have a conical shape. Beavers build dams from fallen trees and branches. This is evidence that such rodents are around here somewhere.

But to meet a beaver's dwelling is a great success. Usually they hide it securely so that it cannot be seen from the outside. They build it in hard-to-reach places, and settle there with the whole family. Rivers are chosen for their habitat, but only with a slow course. Streams and lakes are also suitable for them.

Interestingly, they still avoid too large reservoirs. They can only be found where there are many trees and bushes. If we are talking about a river, then it should flow through the forest. Or at least there should be many different trees on the shore. If in winter the reservoir freezes to the bottom, you definitely won’t find a beaver there.

What does a beaver eat?

But the presence of water is still not enough for beavers to settle here. For their full life, an abundance of food is also needed. These animals are vegetarians, they do not eat any meat food at all. Their main food is the bark and young shoots of various trees and bushes. Among the main trees, the most favorite for the beaver is birch, aspen, willow, and also poplar. And if the linden also grows, its bark is perfect for food.

As for herbaceous plants, it makes absolutely no sense to list them. Reeds, sedges, nettles are only part of their daily diet. According to the observation of scientists for beavers who lived in freedom, they can use up to 300 species of various plants for food. And besides, we are talking about both aquatic and purely terrestrial plants.

But here one important clarification needs to be made: beavers choose only species of soft trees as food. Although you can find fallen oaks and alders, and from the cut it is immediately noticeable that this is the work of beavers, but only they use these trees not for food, but for building a dwelling or a dam. By the way, they build it so that their house is constantly on the water. In this way, they try to avoid situations so that the water recedes and the dwelling is on land.

If a beaver has chosen several types of trees, then he will no longer change his diet. He also likes acorns very much, thanks to his teeth he easily copes with them. In the summer, they feed on a variety of plants, and in the fall they begin to forage for the winter.

Usually they try to place branches in the water so that they have access. This is especially true when the reservoir freezes in winter. For one family, a large amount of such food will be needed, which must be flooded in water. And although there will be a layer of ice on top, from the dwelling under water there will still be access to food.

Features of character and lifestyle

A beaver can swim in water for a long time. On land, he is very slow, moving rather poorly. But in the water he feels complete freedom. When diving, it can stay under water for up to 15 minutes. When diving, the auricles and nasal passages are immediately closed with a special septum. And the eyes are covered with a film that is transparent. Thanks to this, the beaver sees well under water. It can swim under water for a long distance - up to 1 km.

The beaver is distinguished by its peaceful nature, it tries to flee when there is danger. But if there is nowhere to run, it can enter into a fierce battle, and then the enemy will be unhappy.

When the animal sees, hears (although it has small ears, but it has excellent hearing) or senses danger, it will immediately try to dive under the water. At the same time, he tries to slap loudly with his wide tail. This is not from clumsiness, but on purpose to warn about the danger of their relatives. And only after a while, when air is needed, his head appears above the surface of the water. Important to know: The beaver is the only animal among all rodents that can move both on 4 and on its hind legs. In them he can even carry stones for the construction of his dwelling.

The beaver is a very clean animal. You will never see any garbage in his house. He builds his dwelling in such a way that even in the most severe frost there will be a positive temperature. You can understand exactly where these rodents hibernate thanks to the steam that rises through the holes in the ceiling of this house. By the way, they try to warm it well. To do this, they bring clay with their front paws, and cover the branches on top. They leave their dwelling only after dusk, and work until morning. Their teeth are so sharp that the trunk of an aspen, whose diameter is up to 15 cm, one beaver can completely gnaw through in just half an hour.

Social structure and reproduction

During the daytime, the beaver is in its home. The entrance there must be hidden under water. Very interesting life of the family of these animals.

There are several features to note here:

a beaver can live alone, or as a whole family;
if we are talking about a family, then matriarchy reigns here;
when the union of the male with the female has taken place, they live together to the very end;
if one of this pair dies earlier, the second one no longer starts a new family;
these rodents mate only under water, and this happens in January or February.

The last point says that mating usually happens under the ice. After 3.5 months, cubs appear, and there can be from 2 to 6 of them. In one family, the cubs live for two years, and only then they leave. All summer after birth, they feed on their mother's milk. And then winter comes, and they only gain weight again, eating the bark and twigs of plants already prepared by their parents.

If the reservoir is small, only one family settles there. And if it turned out to be larger or we are talking about a river, you can already meet several families here. But between their dwellings, a distance of at least 300 m must be observed. And sometimes, if there is not enough food, it can be up to 3 km. Beavers try to move no more than 200 m from the shore.

Natural enemies of beavers

Scientists have found that beavers communicate with each other. In this way they transmit information, and first of all we are talking about the appearance of danger.

Communication goes like this:

a certain pose is chosen;
there is a tail blow on the water;
a scream is used, something more like a whistle.

When a predator or a human appears, the beaver near the water will primarily use the second option. Beavers are endangered not only by some predators, but also by competitors and diseases. Most often they get sick due to eating shellfish. This usually happens when the rodent feeds on aquatic plants. Both winter floods and spring floods are a big problem. Then up to 50% of the livestock can die.

Among competitors, it is worth highlighting not only, but also. These animals also feed on both tree bark and young shoots of plants. This is especially true of those trees that the beaver felled. But in addition to competitors, he also has natural enemies. We are talking about, foxes and. And if a lynx also lives in the forest, then they attack the beaver. Stray dogs also bring a lot of trouble. But young individuals can be eaten by both pike and owl. But the main enemy is a man who has been hunting this rodent for the sake of the skin for more than a century. But recently, water pollution has also posed a lot of problems for him, and man is also to blame for this.

Population and species status

Beavers can be harmful to humans. For example, the dams they build lead to flooding of agricultural land. And there were also cases when not only roads, but also railway lines were washed out. In this case, decisions were made on the destruction of buildings erected by beavers. But still, this does little, because the dams reappeared very quickly.

Beaver hunting took place (and there are still poachers) for the following reasons:

furs are of high quality;
meat is edible, can be eaten;
"beaver stream" is great for making certain types of perfumes.

Also, the "beaver stream" is used in medicine. Because of this, 100 years ago, the beaver family practically disappeared from the face of the earth. But still, one should not forget that these animals have a beneficial effect on the ecology of the region where they appear. The dams they build do more good than harm. Thanks to this, the water is purified, its turbidity disappears.

beaver conservation

Due to the hunting of beavers, their numbers have significantly decreased. There is reliable information that by 1918 there were no more than 1000 individuals of this species left. It was at this time that they were listed in the Red Book. The Soviet government decided to take care of their salvation. Already in 1920, in those places where beavers were still preserved, reserves began to appear where it was forbidden to hunt.

When these animals multiplied strongly in the reserves, some of the individuals began to be transported to other regions of the country. By 1930 they had already appeared in 48 regions. Everything was aimed at restoring the beaver population.

With the collapse of the USSR, this process did not stop, and today in Russia they already live in 63 regions. As for the territory of Ukraine, even in Kievan Rus, laws were applied in order to preserve this species of animals. From XI, a collection of legal norms was preserved, which indicated which animals were forbidden to hunt. And among this list, beavers are also mentioned.

Today, the beaver population has begun to decline again. And the reason for this lies not only in illegal hunting, but also in the fact that deforestation occurs in large numbers. True, poachers have not yet reached Polesie and the Chernobyl zone. Efforts are currently being made around the world for the river beaver to restore its population, we hope that the efforts will bear fruit.

The more you learn about these unusual aquatic rodents and how beavers live, the more you are surprised at their ingenuity, diligence and resourcefulness. Nature endowed these animals not only with strength and beauty, but also with intelligence.

Appearance

It is believed that the river beaver is the largest rodent in Russia and neighboring countries. . Beaver size, or beaver length , is a little over a meter, the height reaches 40 cm. The weight of a beaver is about 30 kg.

He has a beautiful shiny fur, almost waterproof. Above - coarser thick hair, below - soft thick undercoat. The color of the coat is dark and light chestnut, dark brown or black.

The animal has a squat body, short limbs with five-fingered swimming membranes and strong claws. The tail is paddle-shaped, up to 30 cm long, covered with horny scales and sparse hairs. The eyes of the rodent are small, the ears are short and wide. This description of the beaver will prevent confusion with other aquatic rodents.

Varieties

The beaver family has only two species: the common beaver, or river beaver, and the Canadian beaver. Consider the types of beavers in more detail.

River

This is a semi-aquatic animal, the largest rodent in size, inhabiting the Old World, the forest-steppe zone of Russia, Mongolia, China. They settle along the banks of slow-flowing rivers, irrigation canals, lakes and other bodies of water, the banks of which are covered with trees and bushes.

Canadian

In appearance, it differs from the river beaver in a less elongated body, a short head and larger ears. Coloration is blackish or reddish brown. It lives almost throughout the United States (except Florida and most of Nevada and California), in Canada, except for the northern regions.

It was brought to the Scandinavian countries, from where it independently penetrated into the Leningrad region and Karelia.

These two species of beavers have different numbers of chromosomes and do not interbreed.

habitats

Where beavers live is not very difficult to determine. Noticing fallen trees with a characteristic cone-shaped cut near water bodies, as well as ready-made dams built by animals, one can conclude that they are somewhere nearby. It will be a great success to stumble upon a beaver's dwelling - this is already an unequivocal marker of the presence of a friendly family. They settle in forest, with a slow flow, rivers, streams, reservoirs, lakes.

In the first decade of the last century, beavers in nature could have completely disappeared in most countries of the world. Russia was no exception. Fortunately, the situation was corrected thanks to the measures taken to protect these animals.

The river beaver now feels free almost throughout the country. The European part of Russia, the Yenisei basin, the southern part of Western Siberia, Kamchatka - these are the places where beavers live.

Lifestyle and habits

Without air, a beaver can stay in water for about a quarter of an hour. Sensing danger, the animal dives under the water. At the same time, he loudly slaps his tail on the water, which serves as an alarm signal for his fellows.

His carefully fortified hut serves as reliable protection from enemies (bear, wolf, wolverine) and frost. Even in severe frosts, it is warm in it, steam flows through the holes of the dwelling in the winter - it becomes clear how beavers hibernate.

In the summer, rodents get food, build dams and huts. They work from dusk to dawn. Powerful sharp teeth of a beaver gnaw through, for example, an aspen with a diameter of 12 cm in half an hour. Thick trees can be worked on for several nights in a row. This sound of a beaver can be heard for a hundred meters.

Nutrition

The main criterion for choosing a place of residence for animals in nature is the sufficient availability of food. The diet of beavers is quite varied.

They eat the bark of trees growing near water bodies, aquatic plants. They like to eat the bark of aspen, linden, willow. Reeds, sedges, nettles, sorrel and other plants are what beavers eat.

Scientists who have observed their life and what beavers eat in nature have counted up to 300 different plants that serve as food for animals.

For the most part, beavers live in families and touchingly take care of the well-being of their “relatives” - they build houses, stock up on food for the winter. They painstakingly pile tree branches on the bottom of the reservoir, which they eat in winter. Such stocks per family reach a dozen or more cubic meters.

If, due to the current of the river, it is not possible to lay down their “cellar”, beavers go out to land at night for food in winter. They are very risky: beavers, slow on the ground, easily fall into the clutches of four-legged predators, most often wolves.

Dwellings

On high banks with hard ground, beavers dig holes. The entrance to them is located under water. The beaver hole is a difficult labyrinth with several branches, chambers, entrances and exits. The partitions between the "rooms" are tightly packed, cleanliness is maintained inside. The remains of food are thrown into the river, and they are carried away by the current.

What is the name of the beaver's dwelling, which differs from the hole, can be understood by its appearance, resembling a small house with a sloping roof. The animal first builds one small "room" up to one and a half meters high.

Uses branches of different lengths and thicknesses, clay, grass. The walls are compacted with silt and clay, leveling them, biting the protruding branches. Wood shavings cover the "floor". This is the beaver's hut.

With the increase in the family, his caring head completes and expands his living space. The beaver hut is replenished with new “rooms”, one more floor is built on.

The beaver's house can reach more than 3 meters in height! The painstaking work and engineering ingenuity of the animal are amazing.

Dam construction

What else surprises and delights in the way of life of animals is how beavers build a dam. They are located downstream from their habitat.

Such structures prevent the shallowing of the river and contribute to its flooding. And, therefore, they contribute to the resettlement of animals in flooded places, to increase the possibilities for finding food. That's why beavers build dams.

This tactic is aimed at improving the safety of living. This is another explanation why beavers build a dam.

The width and depth of the river, the speed of the current determine what the beaver dam will be. It must block the river from one bank to the other and be strong enough not to be swept away by the current. Animals choose where there is a place convenient for starting construction - a fallen tree, a narrowing channel.

Hard-working beavers build a dam by sticking twigs and stakes into the bottom and filling the gaps between them with cobblestones, silt, and clay. Beaver dams need to be strengthened constantly, month after month, year after year, so that they are not washed away. But that doesn't stop the beavers! As a result, the dam is getting stronger, bushes and trees grow on it. It can even be used to cross from one side to the other.

And this is not the only thing that beavers are useful for. The dams they built raise the water level, which is favorable for aquatic insects, and contributes to an increase in the number of fish.

reproduction

Mating takes place in January-February. And after three months, 3-6 half-blind cubs are born. Newborns weigh only 400-600 g. They gain weight gradually, while the mother feeds them with milk for the whole summer. Inexperienced and weak kids also spend the winter with their parents. As a rule, they leave the parental home after 2 years.

It is quite precisely known how long beavers live. Under natural conditions - about 15 years.

The only rodents, beavers can confidently walk on two legs. In the front they hold branches, stones, tree bark. Females thus carry their cubs.

Economic importance

Since ancient times, beavers have been hunted for their beautiful, valuable fur. In addition, a beaver stream is used, which is used in medicine and the perfume industry.

Beaver meat is used for food. Interestingly, the Catholics attributed it to lean food. The scaly tail was misleading, because of which the rodent was considered a fish. The beaver is a danger when eaten because of its natural carriage of salmonellosis.

Video

Watch a fascinating video about the life of beavers.