Hence, I have put together this page of beaver facts and trivia. The forest creatures pause in awe as the mighty Beaver passes. They stare from rock and fallen log, from treetop and from grasses. The bear, the fox, and buffalo, and all their feathered neighbors,įor every creature hoped to see the Beaver as it passes. The Beaver's strength is legend, it's noble, wise and good,Īnd word goes out to every corner of that primal wood. The mountain stream will halt its course įor one thing every creature knows is Beavers dam good! The coming of the Beaver means an end to hardships here. The beaver is an amphibious rodent ( order Rodentia) of the family Castoridae and the genus Castor. Two species of beaver are known today: the North American Castor canadensis, and the similar European Castor fiber. Ten thousand years ago, in the Pleistocene Age, prehistoric ancestors including Castor californiensis and Castoroides ohioensis, creatures that weighed between 700 and 800 pounds, roamed the Old and New World. Hardly another mammal has played so romantic a part in our history. Demand for its beautiful and useful pelt first lured trappers into the North American wilderness, helped found the Hudson's Bay Company, and established the Astor fortune. Excessive trapping extirpated the species over wide areas. Now it is being restocked and creating ponds and wet lands of great value to fishing, wildlife, vegetation, aesthetics, and the water table. For these it is probably worth far more to men each year now than its pelts ever were, even in the best year of their price and popularity in the heyday of Jim Bridger and the Mountain Men of the early West. Where Found: The beaver can be found in most forested regions of North America from Alaska and Canada south to the Rio Grande. The Castor canadensis, is native to North America. The European beaver, Castor fiber, can be found in Europe and Asia including Scandinavia, Russia, Germany, France and Poland. Beaver are found in wooded areas near water where aspen, willows, cottonwood and other food trees are found, excluding many parts of Florida, Nevada and Mexico.Ĭolor: The outer fur is a rich brown to burnt umber, while the under fur almost black (stomach paler), and the face is chestnut. The fur is especially dense and soft with longer, coarse guard hairs to protect it. The beaver has soft fur, a leathery paddle-shaped tail (crisscrossed by a scale-like pattern) and characteristic rodent teeth that are used principally for gnawing wood.
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