and flooding fields and roads.  While in many cases all of this is true, we often respond by overreacting in an equally destructive manner, by destroying not only the beaver and its habitat, but also destroying the habitat of thousands of other creatures that thrive in the same locale.  Surely we can find a humane way to coexist with all wildlife, including our busy beaver.

the bottom, they scoop up mud and vegetation in their arms, making pathways from the lumber sites to the future dam location.  Most of these canals are invisible from the shore, but where surface vegetation is abundant, definite paths are formed.

Once the canals are complete, the building materials are selected based upon the job to be done.  For fast moving water, larger trees and even boulders are used during the initial phase.  And the dam is sometimes constructed in an arc so that the earlier, unstable construction is performed at a distance, in more slow-moving water, where it is less likely to be washed away by the current.

Each piece is cut to size to suit the position it will be placed in the dam.  As building continues, smaller and smaller limbs are used, and finally a layer of mud is applied to fill any remaining leaks and to form a final seal.  For dam sites where the water movement is very slow, lumber may not even be used at all, but instead only small branches or mounds of mud may be required to stop the water flow.

The idea that beavers seem to use foresight in preplanning the building of the dam is amazing in and of itself.  But it’s mind-boggling to think that they know why they are building the dam in the first place!  Beavers build dams to create a pond where none existed before, or to raise the water level of an existing pond.  And they do this so they can build their lodge either wholly or partially surrounded by water, and furthermore, so that they can construct entrances which are entirely submerged, thereby  providing protection from most predators.

Most of us have seen evidence of beavers – the dam, the lodge, or a fallen tree.  But few have gotten to see them at work.  Beavers are primarily nocturnal, although history has shown that this has not always been the case.  As a result of the heavy trapping and killing of beavers in support of the fur trading industry of the 1600's to the 1800’s, which nearly drove the

Beaver lodge in Sachse, TX
Photo courtesy of Wilbow Corp.

Beaver pond in Arlington, TX
Photo courtesy of Robert Ressl, Environmental Engineer.

Beavers are highly adapted social animals who live as a family unit.  The male and female are mates for life.  The babies, called kits, are born in the spring, fully furred, eyes open, and front teeth already erupted.  They nurse on mother’s milk until they are nearly 2 months old and stay confined to the lodge for much of that time.  Although the newborns are able to swim, their bodies are so buoyant that they are unable to dive, and hence cannot leave the lodge due to its underwater entrances.

The kits are constantly doted upon by the adults, whether it be the parents or their yearling brothers and sisters, who almost compete for the privilege of caring for the youngsters.  From them they learn grooming, feeding, and construction skills during their first year of life.  Young beavers stay with their parents until their second birthday, at which time they usually venture forth to find their own ponds.

Beavers are territorial, and each spring they mark their territory with “scent mounds.”  They dredge up mud from the pond, and actually carry the mud in their hands up along the shore, where they heap it into a mud patty.  They then leave their scent on it, either from their anal glands or their castor glands.  While these scent mounds are used to thwart intruders, they are also used to attract mates.  It is believed that beavers can discriminate between the scent left by males versus females.  In addition, these scent mounds  convey the beaver’s age and reproductive status.  In this way, a wandering beaver can quickly determine if there is an unmated individual of the opposite sex!

Beavers are great recyclers.  Debarked food sticks are used as lumber for their lodges.  Wood chips produced from felling trees are used as bedding for the kits.  And mud, which is excavated from their channel digging, is used to reinforce the dam to stop leaks.  Beavers have even evolved a digestive system in which almost nothing goes to waste. 

The beaver actually eats everything twice, similar to cud-chewing of the ruminants.  Deer and elk regurgitate partially digested food to give it a second chew.  The beaver’s food, however, passes entirely through its digestive system before it is ingested again.  The first time through the food is excreted as a nutritious gelatinous substance.  This partially processed food is eaten again, the next

Coexisting with beavers is something we have been struggling with for decades.  But this is something we must learn how to do, lest we deplete our environment of the flora and fauna that the beavers’ habitat nourishes and sustains.  Ponds that beavers create become havens for countless other wildlife.  The wet marsh at its inlet is a safe cove for mallards and heron.  Frogs and turtles thrive, as do a variety of insects.  These insects, in turn, provide sustenance for a variety of birds which then become regular inhabitants of the area.  When these ponds come to life, a miniature ecosystem develops for the enjoyment of all lovers of nature.

So what can we do to coexist with beavers?

Here is a newly formed beaver pond in Sachse, just behind some newly built homes.  The pond, which is just beyond a row of backyards, is causing backyard fences to fall.  The housing developer called 911 Wildlife, and owner, Bonnie Bradshaw, met with them to provide a simple solution for coexistence.  Plans are now underway to install an underground chain-link fence, which will not only support the terrain and prevent erosion, but will also prevent beavers and any other animals from unwanted digging or burrowing.

What about the situations where the water level becomes so high that roads and fields are flooded?  There are manmade devices which can automatically maintain a pond’s height at a certain level, regardless of the height of the beaver dam.  These pond levelers create a permanent “leak” in the dam in such a fashion that the beaver

cannot detect the leak and thus do not try to fix it.  Other devices can be used to protect the blockage of culverts, primarily by elongating the culvert with

cylindrical shaped wire, making it difficult for the beaver to dam it, or by moving the sound of "running water" away from the location of the culvert itself, thereby discouraging the beaver from damming up the culvert itself.

  With a little ingenuity we CAN learn to coexist.  The solutions need not be complex, while the benefit to our natural environment can be huge.