Wildlife Viewing - Species Spotlight

Species Spotlight : Beaver

Did you know that many north Floridians live in close proximity to a 36-pound rodent capable of chewing through a willow tree five inches in diameter in less time than it takes to cook a soft-boiled egg? Try two more clues - this rodent has a flattened tail and large front teeth - and you’ll probably recognize this description of the beaver, the largest rodent in North America.

The beaver has a heavily muscled body covered with glossy brown fur, webbed back feet, a flat, scaly tail and large, orange-yellow, chisel-like incisor teeth. These mammals excel at swimming, felling trees and building dams. The dams create ponds that provide beavers with deep water where they can find protection from predators - entrances to dens or lodges are usually underwater. Some beavers in Florida do not build the massive stick lodges associated with northern colonies. Instead, they are more likely to live in deep dens in the banks of streams, usually in family units of five to six individuals that include offspring from the previous two years.

Most trees cut by beavers are one to six inches in diameter, but the animals leave their mark on a wide variety of trees and shrubs, feeding on the inner bark and tender shoots and twigs. Roots, grasses, sedges, ferns and other water plants comprise the remainder of their diet. Beavers float or drag tree sections to the dam site and wedge them into place with absolute precision. They can close their nostrils and ears when underwater, have transparent eyelids that cover the eyes like goggles and can stay below the surface for up to 15 minutes.

Beginning in the late 1700s, beavers were the most intensively and widely sought natural resource of the continent, largely due to the European demand for beaver pelt hats. Few beavers were left in North America by the late 1800s. Through restocking and other conservation and management practices in the 1900s, populations have rebounded throughout the continent. In Florida, the beaver's range reaches down the northwestern part of the peninsula to the mouth of the Suwannee River.

Beavers are primarily nocturnal, so despite the resurgence in their population, it is not common to see one. You are far more likely to see beaver signs - a stump or branch chewed to a point, like an oversized pencil, or the beaver dam itself.

Today the beaver thrives along many of the perennial streams and rivers that course through the landscape of the Florida panhandle and upper peninsula. As architects of wetlands, beavers provide habitat for nesting wood ducks, migratory waterfowl, otters, turtles and fishes.

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Wildlife Viewing : Species Spotlight : Beaver

Species Spotlight : Beaver