OkcPets Magazine January 2024

January / February 2024 • OKC Pets 27 popular depictions of beavers, they do not use their tails to place mud, sticks, and trees when building lodges and dams. They use their dexterous hands for those tasks. What Beavers Build Beavers are known for building dams in the area that they call home. As in human dam building, this is done to control the flow of water. It also ensures that the entrances to beaver homes, called lodges, are underwater to provide extra protection for beaver families. Beavers are known to be industrious, hence the term “busy as a beaver.” Like any good homeowner, they constantly maintain and in some cases expand their dams and lodges. Commonly, the lodges are islands. Although much of the lodge is below the waterline to accommodate entrances and exits, the living quarters are above the water. Extremely well-insulated, the lodges have ventilation holes to ensure good air quality. Beavers also cover the floors of their lodges with wood shavings that they make themselves, thus creating a warm, dry, and cozy living environment. Beavers are crepuscular, meaning they are most active with their building activities during dawn and dusk. That is one reason people don’t commonly see beavers. What Beavers Eat Beavers are herbivores that eat leaves, stems, aquatic plants, sticks, and even the trees they use for building dams and lodges. They spend the summer gathering food, and they store it in their lodges for winter. Because the stored food is partially submerged in cooling water, the leaves and branches stay fresher longer. Where Beavers Live North American beavers live throughout North America, including Oklahoma — in ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers. They are semiaquatic mammals that live equally in water and on land. They can stay underwater for six to eight minutes. Wherever there is a permanent body of water, there is a chance you might find a beaver. And where there is one beaver, there usually are many. Beaver Families Beavers live in family groups and are monogamous, meaning they mate for life. Each year, a pair of beavers will have as This beaver enters its lodge at WildCare Oklahoma to find a treat left by a staff member. Photo courtesy of WildCare Oklahoma. A beaver at WildCare Oklahoma shows off its big, flat tail. The tail helps a beaver to swim, provides balance and leverage when the animal gnaws on trees, and communicates warnings to others when slapped on land or water. Photo courtesy of WildCare Oklahoma.