North American Beaver

Castor canadensis

Safety note: Bites when cornered — do not handle.

The North American Beaver is the continent's largest rodent and one of the most powerful ecosystem engineers in the animal kingdom, transforming flowing streams into ponds and wetlands that increase biodiversity across entire watersheds. It fells trees with its powerful, self-sharpening orange incisors and uses them to construct dams and lodges of mud and sticks. Beavers were so heavily trapped in the 18th and 19th centuries for their fur that they were extirpated from much of their range, but have since recovered broadly across North America.

Habitat

Rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes in forested and shrubby landscapes

Diet

Bark, twigs, aquatic plants, and stored winter food caches

How common

Common