Beaver

Hi again, Earth Rangers! In case you don’t remember me, my name is Sarah Bayliff. I work for the Nature Conservancy of Canada as the BC Interior Program Manager, and I am currently in the Bunchgrass Hills Conservation Area, a vast landscape of native grasslands, forests, and wetlands south of Kamloops in British Columbia. I’m helping to protect this vital wildlife corridor, as well as the creatures that live there — including bumblebees and beavers!
Beavers are the largest rodents in North America, and can be found across the United States, Canada, southern Alaska, and northern Mexico. These amazing creatures are semi-aquatic, meaning they live both on land (in forests) and in the water.

Beavers are made for this lifestyle, with big, flat, paddle-shaped tails and large, webbed hind feet that act like swim fins. Beavers even have built-in goggles — their eyes are covered by a membrane that allows them to see underwater.

Beaver ears, noses, and mouths are made for the water, too. Their ears and nostrils seal while submerged, and their lips close behind their big front teeth so that they can continue to gnaw underwater. It’s important that beavers keep gnawing — their front teeth (called incisors) are constantly growing!

Beavers gnaw as they eat the leafy and woody plants that make up their diet, like cattails, water lilies, bark, twigs, and roots. But they also gnaw on sticks and twigs to make their dome-shaped burrows, or “lodges,” which protect them from predators. Beavers build these burrows in the banks of rivers and lakes, but when those aren’t available, they’ll build dams across streams and then making their lodges in the ponds that form. These famously busy creatures are clearly expert builders!

For hundreds of years, beavers were nearly extinct due to human trapping and habitat disturbance, but these creatures are slowly returning. That’s why we have to do all we can to protect them. Fortunately, the Bunchgrass Hills Conservation Area offers healthy habitats for beavers and other wildlife, and I’m doing all I can to keep it that way.

Want to help out? You can sponsor my work by visiting the Adoptions section in the Earth Rangers App or check out the Earth Rangers Shop to get your Beaver Adoption Kit!