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Beaver

Adapted from Wikipedia · Explorer experience

A beaver eating in Eskilstuna, Sweden.

Beavers

Beavers are large animals that love water. They live in places with rivers, lakes, and ponds all around the Northern Hemisphere. There are two kinds: the North American beaver and the Eurasian beaver. Both have strong bodies, big heads, and teeth that never stop growing!

Beavers are very good builders. They use sticks, rocks, and mud to make dams in rivers and homes called lodges. These dams slow the water and make ponds. The lodges are safe places to live. Beavers work together with their families. They usually live in pairs with their babies.

People know beavers because of their hard work in building. In many places, beavers are symbols of hard work. In Canada, the beaver is even the national animal! Beavers eat tree bark, leaves, and grasses. They are very important for nature because the ponds they make help many other animals live.

Beavers can swim very well. They have webbed feet and flat tails that help them move in water. Their thick fur keeps them warm and dry. Even though beavers were hunted a lot in the past for their fur, they are safe now thanks to protections. Today, beavers are doing well and living in many places.

Images

A beaver swimming in its natural habitat.
An illustration of a beaver from a historical book.
A display of giant beaver skeletons at the Field Museum of Natural History, showing scientists how these ancient animals looked.
Fossil of Palaeocastor fossor, an ancient beaver from 23 million years ago, shown in its natural burrow.
A skeleton of a North American beaver displayed at The Museum of Osteology, showing the bones of this interesting animal.
Illustration showing the feet and tail of a beaver, highlighting its unique physical features.
A beaver's tail print left in the snow along the shore of the Seda river in Latvia.
A Eurasian beaver building its dam in northern Poland.
A beaver near Swan Lake in Yellowstone National Park.
Historical illustration of wildlife from an 1853 expedition report down the Zuni and Colorado Rivers.

Related articles

Northern Hemisphere
Eurasian beaver

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Beaver, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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