what ’ s that ?
beaver sign
genus: Castor
- Beavers are large rodents that are mostly nocturnal. They are usually active at night cutting trees, building,
and foraging for food sources.
- They build both lodges (homes) and dams.
- Lodges are typically found in the middle of a pond, but can also be seen along the sides of a riverbank.
- Lodges are constructed with large fallen trees, smaller branches, twigs, and mud.
- If a suitable site is not available for a lodge, beavers sometimes burrow into the sides of a riverbank; they
also build dams to create sites for lodge building.
- Dams create deep ponds for protection and the building of lodges when other natural locations are not
available.
- Dams are built using vertical support logs filled in horizontally with branches, twigs, mud, and grasses.
- Beavers have also been known to build canals to float logs that are too big to drag over land.
- Beavers are herbivores, eating both tree bark and aquatic plants such as water lilies.
- Beaver teeth grow continuously and are self-sharpening, with hard orange enamel on the front of the
teeth and a softer material called dentin on the backside of the teeth.
Copyright Anne Riechmann and Dawn Smith, Mud Puddles to Meteors, 2013
Use these photos for nature journals, lap books, or animal reports.
Copyright Anne Riechmann and Dawn Smith, Mud Puddles to Meteors, 2013
word scramble
Unscramble the words below to find hidden terms related to beaver sign.
The words you are looking for are in the box at the bottom of the page.
wdoo
verorhbie
dlgeo
mda
emho
ctnolarun
ethet
verir
rbveae
scrambled words
beaver dam
riverwood
lodgehome
teethnocturnal
herbivore
Copyright Anne Riechmann and Dawn Smith, Mud Puddles to Meteors, 2013
word cloud
These words can be cut out and used for creating poetry, lap book projects,
nature journaling, or anything else you can imagine.
beaver
nocturnal
teeth
home
lodge
herbivore
dam
river
wood
Copyright Anne Riechmann and Dawn Smith, Mud Puddles to Meteors, 2013
my animal fact sheet
beaver sign
what i know
what i ’ d like to find out
use this space for a photo or sketch of beaver sign
Copyright Anne Riechmann and Dawn Smith, Mud Puddles to Meteors, 2013