Large semiaquatic rodents, the second-largest living rodents after capybaras. Beavers fell trees to build dams and lodges, and the ponds they make create wetlands for many other species.
Quick answers
What is it?Mammal
Carnivore?No, herbivore
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Night
Mainly active at night and around dusk, spending the day in its lodge.
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?In places
Beavers have long been hunted for their fur, meat and castoreum, a scent-gland secretion once used in perfume, medicine and food flavouring.
At a glance
Found inNorth America, Europe, Asia
HabitatRivers & lakes, Wetland, Forest
ColoursBrown
SizeMedium
Length80–120 cm, plus a 25–50 cm tail
WeightUsually 11–30 kg; up to 50 kg
Legs4
Covered inFur
Lives infamilies
Lives for10–15 years
Can swim
In the wild
- Where it lives
- North American beaver: most of the US and Canada, into northern Mexico. Eurasian beaver: much of Europe and western Russia, with small native groups in Mongolia and China.
- What it eats
- Leaves, roots, grasses, sedges and water plants in summer; bark and the soft layer beneath it in autumn and winter.
Did you know
Its teeth are orange because they are reinforced with iron.
A beaver can fell a tree up to 15 cm wide in under 50 minutes.
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