North American Beaver
Castor canadensis
Adult North American beavers live in ponds, rivers, marshes, and wooded wetlands where they build lodges, bank dens, canals, and dams. They are mostly nocturnal herbivores, eating bark, cambium, twigs, leaves, roots, and aquatic plants while storing woody branches underwater for winter. When threatened, an adult may dive, bite powerfully with orange iron-strengthened incisors, or slap the water with its broad tail as an alarm. A notable fact is that beaver engineering can raise water levels and create wetlands that benefit many other species.
- Type
- Water
- Conservation status
- LC
Growth chain
- North American Beaver Kit
- North American Beaver Yearling
- North American Beaver