7th April: International Beaver Day

It's International Beaver Day - so here is information about these amazing rodents.

1. Beavers are the second-largest rodent in the world (after the capybara). In fact, they never stop growing, even as adults. Individuals weighing over 25 kg (55 lb) are not uncommon. Females are as large as or larger than males of the same age, which is unusual among mammals. In the ice age, there were giant beavers called Castoroides, which were up to 8 feet long.
2. Their teeth never stop growing, either, and their teeth are Orange, because the enamel contains Iron and is more resistant to acid than any other mammal's teeth.
3. Another of the beaver's features is its flat, leathery tail. A beaver's tail can grow to 15 inches long and six inches wide, and has a variety of uses. It's used as a rudder in water and for balance on land, and also comes in handy as a means to warn other beavers that there are predators about. It does this by slapping its tail against the Water, and the sound it makes can be heard above and below the water.
4. Beavers are known for building dams. They do this to create ponds in which to build their homes, known as lodges. They also build canals to transport their building materials along a river. The dams are made from trees they fell using their ever-growing incisors. Before building, they will eat the edible parts of the tree like buds and bark. They begin by placing vertical poles, then place criss-crossed branches in between. Finally they fill in the gaps with weed and mud. They usually work at night, usually alone, and can re-build a primary dam overnight if pesky humans try to dismantle it. The largest beaver dam in the world is in Alberta, Canada and measures 850 meters. It is so deep in the wilderness that it was first seen on a satellite image in 2007, although scientists think it has been maintained by generations of beavers since the 1970s.
5. Their lodges are built in a similar way to the dams. The entrance to the lodge is underwater, making it virtually impossible for any other animal to get in, although muskrats sometimes do and live in the lodges alongside the beavers. The lodge usually has two chambers, one for drying off in and one for living in.
6. The word beaver comes from Old English and Old German words meaning "Brown" or "bright". Because they are known for their industriousness, the verb "to beaver" means to work hard. The animal has also lent its name to people and places - the first name and place name of Beverley comes from the old English befer ("beaver") and leah ("clearing"). Finally on the subject of words, the collective noun for beavers is a colony or family.
7. There used to be a myth that male beavers would chew their testicles off. It might have been a useful survival strategy, for beaver testicles were used as medicine. Beaver balls were said to ease pain and act as a contraceptive. However, beaver's testicles are inside their body so it wouldn't be possible; but perhaps seeing male beavers with no obvious testicles might have given rise to the myth.
8. Beavers mark their territory with castoreum, a smelly substance they produce in glands under their tails. It looks like brown slime and smells like musky vanilla. In 1911, it was listed in British Pharmaceutical Codex as a remedy for "women's problems" and for raising blood pressure. Its medicinal properties may come from the fact that beavers eat Willow trees, which contain salicin, which is transformed to salicylic acid which is very similar to Aspirin. Castoreum may sound disgusting, but it is an FDA-approved natural flavouring used in vanilla, strawberry and raspberry flavourings and is used in the manufacture of perfumes. However, it is expensive and difficult to obtain, so it is only used rarely.
9. In the USA, beaver damage costs around $100 million in property costs every year, so they are not always welcome around human habitations. In Idaho in 1948 a colony of beavers were causing inconvenience to the humans. They were a threatened species by then, so people didn't want to kill them, but to re-locate them. How do you relocate a beaver colony? In this case, they used left over parachutes from the second world war to drop boxes of beavers into a more convenient habitat. 76 beavers were dropped, and only one died in the operation.
10. Beavers have been classified as fish. In the 17th century, the Roman Catholic Church ruled that the beaver was a fish so that people in Canada could eat beaver meat on Fridays.

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