Some facts about beavers

  • Beavers live on wood, bark and aquatic plants. I would have guessed that they ate fish, but they don’t.

  • Beavers can hold their breath for up to 15 minutes.

  • Beavers build dams to raise the water level, creating a still pond to provide them with shelter. They build a lodge in the pond to live in.

  • Beavers gnaw through trees, and warn other beavers by thumping with their tail when the tree is about to come down.

  • Dam building is triggered by the sound of running water. When researchers placed speakers in the beavers’ habitat, playing the sound of running water, they found them covered in sticks and mud the next morning.

  • The longest beaver dam was discovered in 2007 on Google Earth. It measures 850 metres and has been under construction for decades.

  • Beavers were threatened with a $10,000 fine by the state of Michigan for building a dam.

  • The word “beaver” is also used as slang for the female genitalia. Then again, what perfectly normal word isn’t in the Urban Dictionary?

  • Two-dimensional, digital beavers do not exist. Yet.