Training Trip
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Average weight
44-60 pounds,
but some can weight up to 100 pounds!
Main Predators
wolf
fox
otter
humans
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Lesson
Plans
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We have been seeing signs of beaver
activity during our training runs over the past few days.
Usually beavers stay in their lodges and under the ice
all winter long. However, we have come across several
spots where it looks like beavers have recently been using
their teeth to cut down trees. Our guess is that the beavers
did not store up enough food, so they are being forced
to venture out over the snow to look for more food. Maybe
they just prefer the fresh bark over the bark they have
stored under the ice, and they decided to come out for
a special treat! This morning when we came across a spot
with fresh wood chips left by a beaver, the dogs got very
excited and tried to converge on the spot. It was very
hard to drag Thistle away from the spot. I guess he is
still a young dog with plenty of curiosity. |
Beavers
live in shelters called lodges. Some beavers build in
existing lakes while others build in the newly formed
ponds that they made with the dams. The lodges must be
ready by winter to shelter the beavers away from hungry
predators such as wolf, foxes, and otters. Lodges are
usually cone shaped with underwater entrances and are
built along the shore. The beavers build from the inside
out using mud, grass, and branches. Most predators find
it too difficult to break through the complex network
of branches and mud, so the beavers stay protected. Beavers
that live in rivers do not usually build lodges. Instead,
they create burrows out of the mud along riverbanks.
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When the lakes and ponds freeze over, beavers
swim in the water underneath the ice. They have thick
underfur that keeps them well insulsated and a thick layer
of fat under their skin. Beavers
also keep their fur waterproof by rubbing an oily substance
on their fur that is secreted from scent glands.
Beaver populations all over North America decreased
rapidly until the 1900s when regulations were set that
limited the number of beavers
trapped.
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