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Beaver dam
A beaver dam or beaver impoundment is a dam built by beavers; it creates a pond which protects against predators and holds food during winter. These structures modify the natural environment in such a way that the overall ecosystem builds upon the change, making beavers a keystone species and ecosystem engineers. They build prolifically at night, carrying mud with their forepaws and timber between their teeth.
A minimum water level of 0.6 to 0.9 metres (2.0 to 3.0 ft) is required to keep the underwater entrance to beaver lodges from being blocked by ice during the winter.[citation needed] In lakes, rivers and large streams with deep enough water, beavers may not build dams, and live in bank burrows and lodges.
Beavers start construction by diverting the stream to lessen the water's flow pressure. Branches and logs are then driven into the mud of the stream bed to form a base. Then sticks, bark (from deciduous trees), rocks, mud, grass, leaves, masses of plants, and anything else available are used to build the superstructure. Beavers can transport their own weight in material;[citation needed] they drag logs along mudslides and float them through canals to get them in place. Once the dam has flooded enough area to the proper depth to form a protective moat for the lodge (often covering many acres), beavers begin construction of the lodge.
Trees approaching a diameter of 90 centimetres (3.0 ft) may be used to construct a dam, although the average is 10 to 30 centimetres (3.9 to 11.8 in). Log length depends on the diameter of the tree and the size of the beaver. There are recorded cases of beavers felling trees of 45 metres (148 ft) tall and 115 centimetres (45 in) in diameter. Logs of this size are not intended to be used as structural members of the dam; rather, the bark is used for food, and sometimes to get to upper branches. It takes a beaver about 20 minutes to cut down a 15-centimetre (5.9 in) wide aspen, by gnawing a groove around the trunk in an hourglass shape. A beaver's jaws are powerful enough to cut a 1.5-centimetre (0.59 in) sapling in one bite.
Beavers are most active in maintaining their dams in the fall and spring in colder climates, while in ice-free climates, they may maintain their dams throughout the year, albeit with reduced activity during the summer. A study in Poland found that beavers could rebuild a destroyed dam and restore water levels in approximately 8 hours.
If beavers are considered central place foragers, their canals may be considered an extension of their "central place" far beyond the lodge, according to a 2004–2012 study that mapped beaver ponds and cut stumps.
Some people[weasel words] consider that by building dams beavers are expressing tool use behaviour.
Beaver dams typically range in length from a few meters to about 100 metres (330 ft). Canals can be over 0.5 kilometres (1,600 ft) long. The largest known beaver dam is in Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, Canada, and is 775 metres (2,543 ft) long. Satellite photos provided by NASA WorldWind show the dam did not exist in 1975, but it appeared in subsequent images. It has two or more lodges and is a combination of two original dams. Google Earth images show new dams being built which could ultimately join the main dam and increase the overall length by another 50 to 100 metres (160 to 330 ft) during the next decade. Coordinates: 58°16′15″N 112°15′6″W / 58.27083°N 112.25167°W.
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Beaver dam
A beaver dam or beaver impoundment is a dam built by beavers; it creates a pond which protects against predators and holds food during winter. These structures modify the natural environment in such a way that the overall ecosystem builds upon the change, making beavers a keystone species and ecosystem engineers. They build prolifically at night, carrying mud with their forepaws and timber between their teeth.
A minimum water level of 0.6 to 0.9 metres (2.0 to 3.0 ft) is required to keep the underwater entrance to beaver lodges from being blocked by ice during the winter.[citation needed] In lakes, rivers and large streams with deep enough water, beavers may not build dams, and live in bank burrows and lodges.
Beavers start construction by diverting the stream to lessen the water's flow pressure. Branches and logs are then driven into the mud of the stream bed to form a base. Then sticks, bark (from deciduous trees), rocks, mud, grass, leaves, masses of plants, and anything else available are used to build the superstructure. Beavers can transport their own weight in material;[citation needed] they drag logs along mudslides and float them through canals to get them in place. Once the dam has flooded enough area to the proper depth to form a protective moat for the lodge (often covering many acres), beavers begin construction of the lodge.
Trees approaching a diameter of 90 centimetres (3.0 ft) may be used to construct a dam, although the average is 10 to 30 centimetres (3.9 to 11.8 in). Log length depends on the diameter of the tree and the size of the beaver. There are recorded cases of beavers felling trees of 45 metres (148 ft) tall and 115 centimetres (45 in) in diameter. Logs of this size are not intended to be used as structural members of the dam; rather, the bark is used for food, and sometimes to get to upper branches. It takes a beaver about 20 minutes to cut down a 15-centimetre (5.9 in) wide aspen, by gnawing a groove around the trunk in an hourglass shape. A beaver's jaws are powerful enough to cut a 1.5-centimetre (0.59 in) sapling in one bite.
Beavers are most active in maintaining their dams in the fall and spring in colder climates, while in ice-free climates, they may maintain their dams throughout the year, albeit with reduced activity during the summer. A study in Poland found that beavers could rebuild a destroyed dam and restore water levels in approximately 8 hours.
If beavers are considered central place foragers, their canals may be considered an extension of their "central place" far beyond the lodge, according to a 2004–2012 study that mapped beaver ponds and cut stumps.
Some people[weasel words] consider that by building dams beavers are expressing tool use behaviour.
Beaver dams typically range in length from a few meters to about 100 metres (330 ft). Canals can be over 0.5 kilometres (1,600 ft) long. The largest known beaver dam is in Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, Canada, and is 775 metres (2,543 ft) long. Satellite photos provided by NASA WorldWind show the dam did not exist in 1975, but it appeared in subsequent images. It has two or more lodges and is a combination of two original dams. Google Earth images show new dams being built which could ultimately join the main dam and increase the overall length by another 50 to 100 metres (160 to 330 ft) during the next decade. Coordinates: 58°16′15″N 112°15′6″W / 58.27083°N 112.25167°W.
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