The beaver in winter
Pop quiz: do beavers hibernate? In right this moment’s publish, Discovery and Advertising Specialist Dave Sproule solutions frequent questions on beavers.
When you’re close to water, particularly in our northern parks, you would possibly see indicators of one of the vital vital animals within the Ontario panorama, one which molds the panorama to its personal wants.
However within the depths of winter, with a lot of Ontario frozen and white, what are these aquatic creatures as much as?
Listed here are solutions to some frequent beaver-themed questions:
1. Do beavers journey south?
Beavers don’t migrate. They keep put of their residence pond, stream or lake, swimming underneath the ice.
2. Do beavers hibernate?
Beavers are lively all through the colder seasons – no lengthy winter’s nap for them!
In summer season, we frequently see indicators of the beaver, resembling gnawed timber or bark-bare sticks floating within the water, referred to as “beaver chew.”
Extra apparent proof is the beaver dam, discovered alongside streams and on the edges of ponds, wetlands and lakes.
In winter, the indicators grow to be trickier to identify due to the snow and frozen lakes and ponds, however beavers nonetheless have to chew.
3. Isn’t the water too chilly?
No, beavers are well-adapted to their surroundings, together with a waterproof coat. A layer of coarse hairs guards the floor, whereas beneath, a thick layer of fantastic hairs with tiny hooks on them mesh collectively tightly to maintain water out.
This coat will get a lot thicker in winter, and in colder climates. The additional north a beaver lives, the thicker its fur.
Beavers can additionally secrete an oily substance which they comb via their fur with their entrance paws. This helps preserve the water out, and is just like rubbing waterproofing into your leather-based jacket. Beavers groom themselves and one another incessantly to maintain their coats clear and dry.
Bonus truth: beavers produce other cool variations for residing in water part-time, together with webbed toes for swimming, nostrils that shut when underwater, and a clear third eyelid to guard their eyes. Their tails assist regulate warmth and retailer fats for tough occasions, like winter.
4. The place do they dwell?
Beavers dwell in a lodge, a construction constituted of mud, sticks and logs, with an underwater entrance. Lodges are usually constructed in the midst of shallow ponds however will be discovered alongside riverbanks and lakeshores the place the water is simply too deep to be away from shore.
They select a great location, often not too near shore, so wolves can’t dig via the highest of the lodge. In winter, the mud, sticks and logs freeze collectively, so digging via is tough for predators.
The water must be deep sufficient to help the lodge, however shallow sufficient that the wooden pile breaks the floor of the water.
As soon as the wooden is piled, the beavers chew an entrance from underwater into the dry a part of the wooden pile, making a chamber that stays dry and heat via the winter
Spot steam escaping from the highest of a winter beaver lodge? It’s a secure guess that the lodge is occupied!
5. What do beavers eat when nothing grows within the winter?
They eat the buds and twigs of their favorite timber and shrubs – willow, alder, poplar and birch – however simply the outer layers of the bark, not the inside wooden.
Beavers have lengthy been identified for his or her “arduous work” ethic (to place it in individuals phrases). Via the spring, summer season, and fall, they diligently construct and preserve dams, chopping down timber to later use for meals.
Within the heat season, beavers reduce branches from shoreline shrubs and felled timber. Beavers, being sluggish on land, wish to fell timber so their leafy tops fall into the water, so the beaver is secure from predators like wolves.
The upper water ranges attributable to dams additionally permit beavers to retailer their meals underwater, making it last more and maintaining it secure underneath the ice.
6. Why are beavers vital to the ecology of the forest and waterways?
Beavers can change landscapes with their dam-building, one of many few animals capable of alter their personal surroundings.
By altering water programs, flooding forests and creating wetlands, beavers create various habitats that profit many crops and animals. As an illustration, rising the water’s edge supplies habitat for quite a lot of birds, crops and bugs.
In winter, a beaver pond could shelter frogs and turtles in its muddy backside, in addition to dragonfly larvae, and Brook Trout.
Beaver lodges have even been identified to grow to be houses for Muskrat, residing in their very own non-public “house” (however, after all, not paying lease!).
Subsequent time you go a frozen wetland or pond, preserve your eyes peeled for gnawed timber or rising steam, and tip your toque to certainly one of Ontario’s coolest creatures!
