most rodents has a bad reputation with the people. Rats and mice evoke virtually panic-stricken fear with many people. The beaver probably belongs to the most popular animals in contrast to it. its popularity is to be led back on the exceptional construction-performances surely. As inhabitants of break-landscapes, the beavers are capable to change the landscape and to adjust its needs.
Construction-performances The strong Nagezähne, the low ones are up to 3,5 cm long, 8 mm wide and just as strong, zugeschliffen are chisel-nicely at the top. The beaver can fell with them until tree-trunks strong to one meter! With help, it is these craft-like abilities and an extremely varied instinctive behavior capable to erect constructions, that can be compared only with the performances of human engineers. The beaver-dam first is poured as an embankment from mud and stones. Here in, branches are put, that are covered again with mud. The dam then is widened in same manner gradually and is increased. Beaver-dams are one until one and a half meter high and up to 100 m long. In exceptions, dams of 200 m of length were measured. In areas with a regular water-stand, a dam-construction is not necessary. Here, the beaver gives up these constructions.
Not less interestingly, the beaver-castles are as the dams. they consist of sticks, branches and trunks and are sealed with plant-sharing, mud and stones. The beaver first erects a large pile of wood and then gnaws a cavity and the walks in. The entrance always is under water. Such castles are widened continuously and can be lived in by several generations consecutively. Before the winter comes, the apartment is dressed particularly and is protected. The spring is the big time of the repair-works.
The temperature in the beaver-castles is ever more restrained than the outside-temperature. Also with temperatures of over 30 °C, an agreeable climate of 18-20 °C prevails indoors. In the winter with frost of -20 °C, the temperature fluctuates in the construction of only -3 °C until +2 °C.
Not always, however, the beaver builds castles. Exactly like the muskrat, the beaver sometimes uses also Erdbaue and hollowed out trees as shelter.
Shape After the water-pig, the beaver is the second-biggest rodent. The body of the European beaver becomes up to 1 m long. If the tail with a length of approximately 35 cm adds on top of this. The animals become heavy in the average 18 kg, however, some reach more than 30 kg, Canadian beavers even a weight of over 35 kg. The females are somewhat heavier than the males.
The fur of the European form is light - until dark brown. Particularly in it, Russia gives it however also black animals. Partially is the half or even all animals of certain populations black here. The North American form shows more one in the reddish going brown and hardly color-variations.
The fur is very dense. The underside is much more strongly hairy as the upper side and protects particularly against hypothermia. We find a dense, short sub-wool and long waiter-hairs or Grannen. These are widened outside so that they lie roof tile-nicely over the sub-wool.
The heavy one, beschuppte tail has the shape of a club. Beaver-tail was a virtually royal meal earlier. Also the remaining beaver-meat should taste good excellently. The beaver-meat regarded as "fish-meat" was a preferred abstinence-food for the Friday.
Way of life The very short legs and the spindle-shaped body of the beaver are on outstanding tried at the water-life. When diving, the shorter front-legs are pressed at the body. The rear-feet equipped with swimming-skins propel the body with powerful rudder-movements. The tail lies quietly with it. it is used only for the change of direction as elevators.
When diving, nose and ears are closed. The beaver can with 15 minutes of diving-time much longer as other mammals of the freshwater dive (otters, muskrat, Desmane). it dives normally however only 2-3 minutes.
In the winter, it is in the situation to be swum under the ice. it can gnaw a hole near closed icecap into its beaver-dam under water in order to empty some water so that an air-layer is created to breathing under the ice.
The beaver doesn't hold any hibernation but lives from its food-reserves.
Reproduction In February and March with ice and snow, the beavers begin with its Balzspielen. After a Tragzeit of 3 months, it was born 2-3 kids. they can resemble and are approximately 700 g heavily. After 3-4 years, they are sexually mature first. The beavers gain a high age. Caught beavers are supposed to have become up to 50 years old.
Food The food is purely vegetable. Herbs, trees, shrubs and water-plants are consumed. At trees, the beaver prefers poplars, aspens and alders, it assumes however also other foliage and conifers.
Trees with a strength up to 10 cm is felled in a night. it works on stronger several nights. From the trees, leaves, branches and the bark of the branches are eaten. Only the trunk is spurned.
Otherwise, it eats all plants practically, whether grass, herbs or reed. For the winter, it creates branches and branches to water as food-reserve at its construction, that Z. T. even as food-reserve serves.
Slowly flowing waters are habitat of the beaver. it lives in brooks, flat seas and above all forest-rivers. In any case, it prefers pastures, aspens, and alder-breaks. Only in the Rhônedelta as well as in the Mongolia and in North-China, it lives distant on every timber as a pure herb and grass-glutton. it requires waters, that don't freeze over as far as to the reason in the winter and don't dry up in the summer.
Spread The beaver lived on the whole northern hemisphere once. it lived in forests, tundras, yes even semi-deserts. Beavers were also frequent inhabitants of Rhine, Elbe, Oder and Weichsel earlier.
For its disappearance, the fur-animal-hunt as well as Flußbegradigungen and Auwälderbeseitigungen responsibly must be done mainly. In England, it became already in the 12. Century exterminated, in Italy in the 16. Century. in the 19. it had vanished century all over almost Europe. Only in the Rhônedelta, there were even little more than thousand animals at the Elbe, in Poland as well as at the Dnjepr and Don. Only in Norway, over thousand beavers could have lasted.
Re-naturalization Today, there are diverse efforts for the re-naturalization of the beaver. In Sweden, these activities were so successful that the beaver occurs again virtually everywhere there where it finds suitable life-conditions. Also in Poland, re-naturalization-attempts proceeded successfully.
Since the seventies, there are beavers again also in Germany. There were first settlements in Bavaria at the Inn and at the Danube, west of Regensburg. From here, the beaver standing under protection stretched even further meanwhile. New beaver-continuances were justified among other things also at the waiter-Rhine and in Lower Saxony up to now.
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