Beavers

European Beaver Beavers continue to grow throughout life. Beavers' ability to change the landscape is second only to humans. A beaver uses its tail to help maintain its balance when it is gnawing on trees.

• Have you ever wondered how a beaver can gnaw on wood under the water without getting water in its mouth? It can close its mouth with furry cheek flaps behind its front teeth. In fact, a beaver's lips are so constructed that it can close its mouth completely with its teeth still sticking out.
• A beaver can close its nose and ears, too.
• By the way, beavers' teeth are orange.
• Beavers have built dams out of cornstalks.
• Beavers don't stop growing until they die.
• By early spring a beaver's tail is only half as big as it was in early autumn. That's where it stores the fat it collects in the summer to survive the winter.
• A beaver, grawing down a tree, stops every so often to spit out the chips.
• Some say that the single most complex instinct in the animal world is the building of dams by beavers.
• When a baby beaver reaches age 2, the parent beavers kick it out.
• Beavers mate for life. They devote almost all their time to fixing up their home. And the female beaver is the boss.
• The beaver gulps air before it dives. Underwater, it gets about half a mile to the gulp.