Its lustrous fur makes it easy to identify in the wild. The beaver also has webbed feet and a paddle tail. Experiencing this animal in its natural habitat is exhilarating. Most people are unaware that beavers are protected. There are some people that want to overturn protecting the beavers in favor in hunting them. People will be deprived of experiencing the beaver if the protection is overturned. These "hunters" don't know that killing beavers will also kill the wildlife that depend on beaver dams. These animals are in the genus Castor, which includes the North American (Castor canadensis) and Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber). The North American species is typically nocturnal and lives in semi-aquatic environments. It is one of the largest rodents in the animal kingdom.
Dams and Lodges.
Beavers build dams on waterways. Their homes or lodges are built in the pond that forms behind the dam. They cut trees with powerful, chisel-like teeth and build canals to transport wood along them. Vertical tree poles woven with branches make up the structural support while weed and mud are filled in remaining holes completing the dam. Dams give protection against coyotes, wolves, and bears and give easy access to food during winter. Beavers are workaholics, because they often carrying mud and stones in their forepaws and timber between their teeth. Destroying a dam is therefore difficult because they often keep active lodges nearby and can rebuild the dam overnight! (Beavers may build multiple dams along a river). The pond isolates the lodge. When winter arrives, mud from the lodge becomes hard, making it impenetrable for wolves and wolverines. The lodge is only accessible by beavers and sometimes muskrats. It contains two dens for drying and living. The dens are only built after the lodge is complete. .
Social Awareness.
These animals have developed clever alarm signals. They are great swimmers, adapted to life in water.