Beaver business
Photo: Arne Ader
Translation: Liis
Marks of beaver activities.
In autumn the beaver (Castor fiber) hoarded ample winter stores of branches and tree trunks in heaps that can take up cubic metres of space. They show up clearly now at water bodies; in the beginning of winter the heaps are large. In summer the beaver feeds on aquatic plants, now it must mostly make do with thinner twigs and tree bark. In addition to the parents two generations of young live in the nest of a proper beaver family: this summer’s and last summer’s litter. But we will hardly get to see the animals, only the signs of the beaver family’s activities: ring barked trees, many felled trunks, water filled with "junk” and flooded areas. At best we may hear the tail hitting the water with a "splat!” – the beaver has seen us.
People living near rivers always know if beavers live nearby or not – the creatures stay quite long in an area and can change it past recognition
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