They fell trees. They build. They have secret underwater tunnels to enter — most stealthily — into their artfully designed burrows and lodges. They patch up leaks in their dams by pushing mud into the «cracks » which they immediately detect when they hear water swishing through the construction site. And in another peculiar twist of nature they have orange teeth, but more on that later. Today the world is celebrating International Beaver Day which will hopefully raise awareness about the role these creatures play in our eco-systems. Beavers are the engineers of nature, creating vital wetland where not only they can thrive but their fellow wildlife can as well. Their burrows are essentially dug into a river bank and at times they renovate them into larger bank lodges. Or alternatively they might build their lodges right out in the middle of their beaver-built pond offering a safe place to eat, sleep and raise their young, called kits.

These large rodents are herbivores that are accomplished swimmers while being somewhat clumsy on land. With their webbed feet and flat hairless tail they are streamlined for swimming and they even have an extra pair of eyelids, transparent, which let them see underwater, like swimming goggles. They have iron in their teeth which gives those sharp canines a distinctive orange color but also that extra strength to tear through tree bark which they enjoy feasting on. They also indulge in leafy branches and even stockpile food under water in their ponds which become beaver fridges in winter when the pond freezes over. But importantly the species also plays a critical role in creating thriving ecosystems which a wealth of woodland wildlife enjoys. By creating dams, making ponds, and fashioning canals to swim around their territory, beavers create habitat that helps wildlife like birds, frogs and fish to thrive. And their dams can actually prevent flooding further down river and keep water flowing during droughts, explains the Société Nationale de Protection de la Nature, the oldest nature conservation association in France which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the re-introduction of the beaver into the Loire River.

There are two recognized species of beaver, the Eurasian beaver and the North American beaver. The North American beaver is native to the US, Canada, and northern Mexico, and lives in a variety of freshwater habitats such as rivers and wetlands. Demand for their fur and use of their musky secretions known as castorum in perfume making — beavers have scent glands — led to a steep population decline but reintroduction and conservation efforts have enabled the population to rebound.©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette
https://www.snpn.com/ https://beavertrust.org/ https://wildlife.org/