eaver - Close Encounters

My favorite animal subjects used to be a family of beavers that live near us in a lodge on the Chena River. (That was before the moose started coming into our yard!) I have seen many generations of beavers at the lodge over the past twenty years. Generally the baby beaver pups are born every other year. In the summer of 1997 there was one old beaver whose mate died in 1996, and at least six younger beavers living in the lodge. The youngest one was born in 1996. The others are juveniles or adults, two years or older. I have seen seven together at one time. These large vegeterian rodents are found in most of mainland Alaska. They have soft brown fur prized by trappers, chisel-like teeth, webbed hind feet and a flat, broad tail. And yes, they DO hit their tails on the water surface to make a loud splash, as a warning to other beavers of a perceived "danger." In the Chena River near us they build their lodges in the bank of the river. Farther up in the upper Chena River they dam up small streams to make ponds, and then build their lodges usually in the center.

(photo � 1996 Barbara Logan)
Beaver lodge on the Chena River, July 1996

How many beavers can you see around the lodge?

(photos � 1997 Barbara Logan)
A Beaver-cut sapling and Beaver tracks in the mud, two good signs of Beaver activity.
Notice the wood chips at the base of the sapling.

Can you see the drag trail in the mud from the Beaver's tail?

(photo � 1997 Barbara Logan)

(Be sure to read "More About This Photo" at the bottom of the page)

(photos � 1997 Barbara Logan)

It quickly dropped the willow sapling and ran to the safety of the water. I snapped these pictures as it ran. We were both pretty surprised! I think this big old beaver has failing eyesight, as I have been able to get very close to it several times.

(photo � 1997 Barbara Logan)

Here are the other beavers who were eating willows in the river. They are about 15 to 20 feet offshore. I was taking this picture when the incident above happened. (SMILE) The beaver on the right was born in the spring of 1996. I believe the old beaver (in the story and photos above) is one of its parents.

(photo � 1996 Barbara Logan)
This photo is of the same young beaver pup you can see on the right in the photo above.
This picture was taken a year earlier, in August 1996.

(*ANSWER)

There are six beavers around the lodge:
four on the left and two on the right.

More About This Photo

I have shared this photo with organizations such as the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre in Midland, Ontario, Canada and Denver Botanic Gardens in Denver, Colorado, for use on interpretive signs. "The Wye Marsh is a non-profit environmental organization formerly owned and operated by the Canadian Wildlife Service. When the CWS was going to close it, a group called the Friends of Wye Marsh took it over and have been operating it since." "The Denver Botanic Gardens is a spectacular 23-acre urban oasis, offering an unforgettable artistic garden experience for the whole family, as well as a living laboratory for education and acclaimed conservation and research programs." The following photos (� Andine Hennig) show the sign made by Andine Hennig, an interpretation intern for the Denver Botanic Gardens in Colorado. Several signs were made to describe an interpretive trail about ecosystems in Colorado, and are installed in the Denver Botanic Gardens. The sign with my photo is installed in the Plains Gardens, right on the northeast side of the pond. "The trail will be out there for a couple of months, but we have striven to design the signs independently, and I am confident that they will be reused in the future." ~~Andine

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This page was last updated 2 November 2006 � Barbara Logan
URL is http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~soakbear/beaver.htm