The largest member of the rodent family, the beaver is indeed an active woodcutter and dam builder. But when beaver populations get too high, they cause problems by cutting down valuable trees and flooding roads with their dams. Beavers also spend a lot of time in the water, using their tails as rudders and propellers when swimming.
Identification
General description: The beaver is a large rodent that has large orange teeth and a flat paddle-shaped tail. It eats twigs, water plants, and tree bark.
Length: Body length is 27 to 25 inches long, with a 15-inch tail.
Weight: From 28 to 75 pounds.
Color: Various shades of brown.
Sounds: Beavers make several sounds--churrs, mumbles, whines, snorts, hisses--as well as slapping their tails against the water to sound an alarm.
Reproduction
Beavers mate when they're two years old. The mating season runs from November to March. Young beavers (kits) are born in May or June, with an average litter of 3 to 4. Beaver babies weigh less than a pound, but will follow their mother underwater before they're a day old. Beavers live on their own at age two, and have an average life span of 12 years.
Food
In spring and summer, beavers eat leaves, buds, twigs, fruit, ferns, stems, and the roots of water plants. In fall and winter, they eat cuttings from trees stored beneath the water.
Predators
Coyote, wolf, bobcat, cougar, and bear.
Habitat and range
Beavers live throughout Minnesota. They're found near rivers and other bodies of water, particularly where trees are nearby.
Population and management
In its range, there are 0.6 beaver colonies (less than one) per river mile. During the winter, a beaver colony will include the two adults, their spring babies, and often year-old beavers. Minnesota has a regulated beaver trapping season, but there are not enough trappers to keep some beaver populations small enough to prevent problems.
Fun facts
With their strong jaws and teeth, beavers can chew through a six-inch tree in 15 minutes. A single beaver can chew down hundreds of trees each year.
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