North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) Kuhl, 1820

 

Structures and Signs

 

 

 

Beavers play an important role in shaping North American landscapes by converting wooded riparian and lacustrine habitats to open water and wetlands. They change vegetation by gnawing and felling trees, thus opening the canopy, and affecting hydrology by creating beaver dams (massive log, branch, and mud structures) which block streams and flood forests and fields, transforming them into the beaver ponds. In many areas beavers build domelike shelters, called lodges, also constructed of branches and mud, while elsewhere they live in burrows dug into river banks. Although the animals themselves may be difficult to observe, the signs of beaver activity, such as dams, lodges, beaver ponds, trees with gnawed marks, felled trees and submerged food caches, are a common sight in many areas of Canada and the United States. Beaver dams may last for decades, and older dams sometimes have trees growing on them as illustrated in the photo D41038. Signs of beaver presence could be seen in very unlikely places, for example alongside rivers flowing through nearly treeless arid plains, such as the Canadian River in Texas Panhandle (23549 and 23550).

 

		D33545 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis), beaver lodge Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved
		D33544 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) freshly renovated beaver lodge Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved
		D33546 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) beaver lodge Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved
		D33547 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) beaver lodges Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved
		D33609 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) small beaver lodge Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved
		D33587 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) beaver lodges and food caches Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved
		D70228 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) Tree felled by beaver Marlborough Forest, Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved
		23549 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) Tree felled by beaver Canadian River Texas, USA Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved
		D38013 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) beaver dam Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved
		D41038 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) trees growing on old beaver dam Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved

 

		D33607 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) beaver gnaw marks Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved
		D70225 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) Tree felled by beaver Marlborough Forest, Ontario, Canada Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved
		23550 North American Beaver (Castor canadensis) Tree felled by beaver Canadian River Texas, USA Copyright © Michael Patrikeev All Rights Reserved

 

 

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