Beavers are the largest rodents in the Northern Hemisphere, second in size only to the capybaras of South America. There are only two types of these wonderful animals - Canadian and European. During the Pleistocene, there were also two species - the North American Castoroides ohioensis and the Siberian Trogontherium cuviere, the growth of the latter then reached a giant -165 cm, weight was - 60 kg.

Modern beavers are separated into a separate family (beaver family) because of their peculiar structure (beavers have a streamlined body, a flat paddle tail, and there are membranes between the fingers of the hind legs). The European and Canadian species have a similar structure and size, but differ in color details.

In the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. the number of beavers has greatly decreased, because of their fur, poor animals were mercilessly exterminated by hunters and were on the verge of extinction. For this reason, strict security was organized. Reserves began their work, which are engaged in the protection, study, breeding and resettlement of these animals in places where they once disappeared. In Russia, beaver breeding is carried out in the Voronezh Reserve.

These animals live in family groups, which are based on married couples (formed for life) and their offspring for the last two years. Therefore, beavers are a striking example of a harmonious monogamous family. They have offspring once a year. The mating season runs from mid-January to late February.

Pregnancy of female beavers lasts 105-107 days. A litter usually has 1 to 6 cubs. Beavers appear in April or May.

A female always chooses a place for building good and reliable housing (matriarchy reigns in this family), and grown-up kids, along with their parents, are engaged in all construction work.

Newborn cubs see well, are perfectly pubescent and weigh about 0.5 kg. Two days later they already know how to swim. Beaver mom strictly trains her children, pushing them into the underwater corridor by force.

The rash introduction of an alien species into the natural environment is a danger to the local fauna. So in 1975, the owner of the castle in France launched 2 pairs of Canadian beavers into his park. Soon, the species settled in the surrounding area, set up dams and flooded floodplain meadows, thereby displacing European beavers. As a result, the National Forest Service caught strangers and distributed them to zoos.

So how do beavers take care of their young? At 3-4 weeks, the cubs switch to independent feeding with soft grass stems, yellow water lilies and tender leaves, but a caring mother continues to feed them with nutritious milk up to 3 months. In the first year of life, young animals gain up to 10 kg! All members of the family take care of the babies. As they grow older, babies need more and more attention: all children are curious and these are no exception. (Some wonder what a baby beaver is called? Of course, a beaver!)

The grown up beavers do not leave their parents for another 2 years. Beavers live in families, and a full-fledged cell of their society is a pair of adults and their offspring of the past and current year. Only after reaching the age of two (puberty) beaver cubs begin free "swimming". This is due to the complex ways of building and foraging. It takes a lot of time to master all this. On the shore, beavers move clumsily (even funny) and rather slowly on their short legs, and therefore try to appear on land as little as possible. It is clear that on earth they can easily become prey to predators.

Toddlers learn safety rules from their parents for a long time. But in the water the whole family feels free! Beavers easily swim, splash, dive and play with each other, and, of course, transport the building materials they need - branches. A beaver can stay under water for up to 15 minutes and, without surfacing, can cover a distance of 750 meters! And all thanks to the large lungs and liver.

In the 1930s, several reserves were created for the active protection of beavers, and the technology for keeping them in captivity was developed. It turned out that these animals, despite the special way of life, get along well in captivity and successfully breed. This played a decisive role in restoring their numbers and settling in their former habitats.

Animals reach puberty by the age of three. Under natural conditions, their life expectancy is 10-15 years, in captivity - 35.

Beavers are nocturnal animals, and therefore they forage in the dark, it is very rare to see them during the day. These animals are very cautious by nature: emerging to the surface, the animal first carefully examines the surroundings and does not go ashore until it is convinced that it is safe. If a beaver sees a person or an animal on the shore, it immediately warns relatives about the danger by hitting the water with its flat tail. After such a signal, all family members dive and sit out in their cozy hut (this is a mound of brushwood and soil with a living chamber inside and underwater entrances, the whole family fits in such a dwelling). For communication, beavers most often use just blows with a flat tail on the water, because the voice of this animal resembles rather a quiet whistle. It is much more convenient, and faster, for such an animal to do just that, the more it is clear to everyone that this sound will be heard under water, and, of course, it is safer. All these tricks will have to be mastered by the younger generation.

In addition to protection from predators, young beavers will also have to master the skill of felling trees, because this is a very difficult and dangerous business. The second main cause of death of these animals is crushing with heavy logs. Toddlers will need to learn to do this carefully, carefully repeating everything (step by step) after their parents. Practice is the best option here!

The family plays a key role in the life of these beautiful and faithful animals, so young animals from childhood learn everything necessary to be able to create, maintain and feed their own family. These animals have a lot to learn!

Meet beaver. The largest rodent in Russia and Europe. It ranks second in the world in terms of size among rodents, giving the palm to the capybara.

We all know about its unique ability to gnaw tree trunks and cut them down to build dams (dams). And he does it with incredible dexterity. 3-5 minutes and a small tree with a diameter of a human hand has already been knocked down.

This is a rather impressive size rodent up to 1-1.3 meters long, and weighing up to 30-32 kilograms. A flattened oar-shaped tail flaunts at the back, about 30 centimeters long. From above, it is covered not with fur, but with large horny shields. A horn keel runs in the middle of the tail. The tail is necessary for the beaver only for swimming.

To protect against water ingress, the nostrils and auricles close when immersed, and the eyes are closed with nictitating membranes.

The main working tool of a beaver is large incisors. They are located a little further from the rest of the teeth and are isolated by special labial outgrowths, which allows the beaver to calmly process the tree under water. Beaver fur has long been considered one of the most durable and beautiful. Its color varies from light chestnut to dark brown or even black.

In connection with the semi-aquatic lifestyle, swimming membranes are located between the fingers. In the anal region there are wen and special glands that secrete a beaver stream. The former secrete a secret that serves as a kind of "passport" for the animal. From it, the beavers learn the sex and age of each other. The beaver stream serves to determine the boundaries of its plots.

In the genus of beavers or beavers, only 2 species are distinguished. This is an ordinary or river beaver (lat. Castor fiber) and Canadian beaver (lat. Castor canadensis). The first is widespread in the territory from Western Europe to the Baikal region and Mongolia, and the second - in North America.

Not many of us have been able to see how beavers wield huge incisors. They carry out their "carpentry" work both under water and on land. Their performance is amazing. A beaver will knock down a small aspen in 5 minutes, a thicker and more solid tree will take about a night. So by morning, instead of a tree with a diameter of about 40 centimeters, there will be only a stump with a pointed top.

They act very quickly. In a second, the beaver manages to make 5-6 movements with the lower incisors and “bite off” a small piece. Moreover, these teeth are self-sharpening, after each fallen tree they remain as sharp as they were.

All parts of the fallen tree are used. Smaller branches are either eaten on the spot by the beavers or floated downstream as material to build dams or lodges. Or they relate "personally".

As a result of numerous rushes from day to day along the same routes, shallow grooves remain on the territory of the beaver farm, which are flooded with water during the flood, forming the so-called. beaver canals. On them, then all the food is fused, that is, twigs. Agree, it is much easier than carrying them yourself.

Now let's look at what kind of buildings beavers build for themselves. Project number 1 - holes. They dig in high and steep banks. The entrance is always located under water, at a depth of 1-2 meters. Having risen above the water level, the hole in the form of a complex labyrinth with several entrances, most often leads to the roots of a tree.

The labyrinth ends with a voluminous living chamber, the walls and ceiling of which are well rammed and reinforced. This chamber is necessarily located higher than the water level. If water begins to abide, then part of the earth from the ceiling is dumped onto the floor. If the ceiling collapses after such a “refurbishment of the house”, then it is covered with branches and dry grass, as a result of which the hole smoothly turns into a semi-hut.

Project No. 2 - huts made of branches and earth. They are built on flat and unsuitable places for burrows. The entrance is also under water. The huts themselves are a large pile of twigs reinforced with earth and silt. Large huts can reach 3 meters in height and 12 meters at the base. It may seem that this building inspires little confidence, but in fact it is a real impregnable fortress.

With the onset of cold, its walls are "insulated" with a new layer of clay, and the temperature in the huts throughout the winter is positive. Beavers are clean animals, so they take care of the cleanliness and order in the hut or burrow. They do all their work outside the home.

And finally, project number 3 - dams or dams. These are the largest beaver structures, some of which are worthy of admiration. So, the platinum built by Canadian beavers on the river is considered a record. Jefferson (Montana, USA). Its height reaches 4.3 meters, the width at the base is 7 meters, and the length is 652 meters!

The dam is built from everything that falls into the paws and teeth - fallen trees, branches, brushwood, stones. All this structure is reinforced with clay and silt.

The place for the dams is chosen not at random, but with engineering precision - always below the beaver "town" and where trees grow along the banks. The medium-sized dam (about 2 m high, 20-30 m long and 4-6 m wide) can support an adult. It is erected in about a week and throughout the entire period is constantly under the vigilant control of rodents.

As proof of this, a vivid example is given - the experiment of the French zoologist Richard. In the French national park Brusi, he observed the following picture. Richard specially punched a hole in the beaver dam and passed a long drainage tube through it. The water immediately began to subside. The beavers immediately began to fuss. The operation to repair the leak has begun.

To begin with, the animals quickly built a dam, but this did not help. Then they guessed what the reason was and began to close up the inlet of the tube. Everything is fine, everything is correct, but there was one “surprise” for them here - holes were also located on the sides of the tube. They began to close up these holes, but to no avail - the water washed away all the "rivets". Then the beavers stopped all attempts for a while and calmed down a bit. But in the end, they got the job done!

The beavers simply built a new dam that skirted the lower exit end of the tube. As a result, a small pond formed between the two dams. Everything ingenious is simple!

In the ponds where beavers live, there are always a lot of fish, as they often clean the bottom of decaying silt. As a result, the water becomes the most oxygenated. Therefore, it was previously believed that beavers settled where there was a lot of fish, because they feed on it. But this is far from true.

Beavers are herbivores. They feed on bark and tree shoots. They prefer softwood trees - aspen, poplar, willow, birch, and various herbaceous aquatic plants. Every day they eat about 6 kilograms of wood. For the winter, they make blanks stored in the water. So that they do not freeze into the ice, beavers try to place it under steep overhanging banks.

Offspring are brought once a year. They live in families - 5-8 individuals each: a male, a female and their offspring of the past and this year. They arrange "weddings" in winter, under the ice. In spring, in April-May, from 1 to 6 cubs appear. The female, although she is a caring mother, keeps her offspring in strictness. Already on the 2-3rd day, she pushes the half-blind cubs into the underwater corridor so that they begin to learn to swim.

The first month they feed on mother's milk, and then slowly begin to switch to plant foods. After 2 years, having reached puberty, the young leave their parents.

The 18th and 19th centuries were a turning point in the population of these animals. They were exterminated for the sake of beautiful fur and beaver stream, used in our time in medicine and perfumery. By the beginning of the 20th century, no more than 1,500 individuals remained in Europe, and about 2,000 in Russia. But thanks to environmental measures, the number of beavers was restored here and there. By the 1980s, there were about 250 thousand of them, and by 1998 - about 430 thousand individuals. But still, some subspecies of the common beaver are endangered and are listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and in the Red Book of Russia.

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Beaver life. The living world of Vyatka.

Vyatka is a land where birch, willow, and aspen grow in huge numbers. In endless forests, there are often lakes and shallow streams. And all together this expanse for such animals as beavers.

Finding a beaver's house is not difficult. If you find a stream, try heading upstream. Along the way, you should notice the remains of beaver dinners, namely: scattered twigs scattered here and there. Beavers gnaw thin tender shoots of willow, alder.

Following these tracks you can get to the beaver hut. The hut is built in a pond, the water in the banks is kept by a powerful dam built by beaver builders with the help of their own teeth, paws, and tails.

A beaver dam is a structure as strong as a fortress, made of branches tightly woven together.

The dam with a high dense wall blocks the flow of a forest stream, somewhere in the upper reaches. And now, the caught water begins to accumulate and a deep pond is obtained. Beavers deepen it, throwing silt or clay onto the dam, covering up the cracks for reliability.

Such a hydraulic structure is a marvel of beaver engineering. To keep the water in the pond always at the same level, the animals establish a drain point, in one or more places. And the water slowly seeping down, does not overflow the pond and does not flood the hut - living quarters.

The hut is the home of the beaver.

The life of the beaver family is closely connected with water. They build their home in the water. Water is nothing more than a natural defense of the house from enemies. Indeed, in their hut, mother beaver and father beaver grow their offspring!

The top of the hut rises high above the water, just as the walls of the dam are skillfully intertwined with boughs and covered with moss. The hut is smeared with coastal land. What tireless workers they are! And knowledgeable professionals! They build it so firmly that moose can walk along the dam and the house. Yes, moose. The dimensions of a beaver's hut are equal to the average room in your apartment.

Inside the hut there is a warm dry room, covered with pieces of tree bark. The room always remains dry because the beaver very carefully monitors the flow of water from the pond and cleans the plums from dirt. The entrance to the room is only through the water, through the water tunnel, which is very reliable and safe for our animals. Here you can raise small beavers, relax and dine.

By the way, the beavers also took care of the dining room. Not far from the hut, juicy branches of willow, alder, and aspen are harvested.

Beavers will have to survive the cold winter, which they are doing successfully, judging by the increase in their numbers. Some of the blanks are under water, the other is above water.

Beaver family.

Having matured, by the third or fourth year of life, beavers find a mate and look for a place for their future home.

Beavers create a family once and for all. Until death do them part. Wildlife, natural selection, the struggle for survival, natural disasters - all this has a place to be and the life of a beaver is not so serene.

But if all is well, then on average four beavers are born in a beaver pair. It happens somewhere in the spring.

For parents who are loving and caring, there comes a noisy, troublesome time. Feed the beaver cubs, change the bedding, comb the hair. From morning to evening, familiar worries to us people.

At the same time, beavers talk to each other a lot, gently or anxiously - it all depends on whether peace and tranquility reigned in nature, or danger loomed over the hut!

Beaver enemies.

Beavers are not made for fighting. These animals are peaceful workers.

Of course, in a moment of danger, they will bravely and selflessly fight for their family and home. In the struggle for the right to life, they will use the power of their teeth and claws. A hostile predator who decides to encroach on the beaver's house will not be greeted. And yet, the beaver has dangerous enemies - wolves, bears, foxes and a mortal enemy - the otter. On land, beavers are vulnerable, another thing in the water.

Therefore, they diligently monitor the condition of the pond and dam.

But, no, no, but trouble happens. For example, wanting to profit from small beaver cubs, and beavers are very noisy during their pranks, their piercing cries are heard even through the thick walls of the hut. Knowing that there are babies in the family of fluffies, their life haunts the otter. And at one point, this fierce predator can decide to destroy the dam.

Beavers live in large friendly families and always protect themselves from enemies together. Therefore, most often they emerge victorious from difficult situations and dangers.

Beavers are hunting animals.

Beavers have very valuable fur. At some time, as a result of targeted hunting, beavers almost disappeared altogether. Now their numbers have been restored. In our region with mixed coniferous and deciduous forests and numerous water resources, in picturesque places with quiet backwaters, these cute animals are the most life. which they appreciated. To date, almost 30 thousand individuals live in our forest region.

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.