What’s that beaver doing?

He’s building his home!

Beavers make their homes by building a natural dam in a shallow creek or river, and then building a lodge on top of the dam.

To make a dam, a beaver begins by shoving large tree branches and sticks into a muddy streambed.  The fuzzy wild animal then pushes smaller twigs into any gaps and piles heavier sticks on top.  To make the dam watertight, the beaver plasters mud onto the upstream side of the dam.  Access to the dam is easy for the beaver is but very difficult for predators. 

But how do the beavers breathe?  Beavers have great natural instincts!  In order to breathe while in their lodge, beavers leave air spaces among the sticks in the ceiling of the lodge.  Even though a beaver rarely remains underwater for more than 2 minutes, the animal can stay as long as 15 minutes before having to surface for air.