Beaver's are Back at Sanfordville Pond!
by Lionel Wolfe, Grace Serritella, Trevor Stevens and Dory Masefield
They’re back! There used to be a beaver lodge at the back of the pond behind Sanfordville
School. It was destroyed a few years ago. But, Mr. Kirschke’s PIE ⅘ class has found evidence
that the beavers are here again. We found stumps that were chewed off with fresh wood chips.
We also found a lot of saplings chewed off and scrapes off the bark as tall as 4 feet high! We
want to share the beauty of beavers and some fun facts about them because they’re awesome
animals, and are often misunderstood.
Here are some pictures of the fresh beaver activity we found in December, 2014, at Sanfordville:
What's cool about beavers?
Beavers are the state animal of New York. Their scientific name is Castor canadensis. Beavers
are related to mice, porcupines, rats, and squirrels. They are the largest rodent in North America!
They grow to over 40-70 pounds and are 35 - 52 inches long as adults. They live up to 24 years.
Beavers are nocturnal, and hiss when they are scared. Underwater, beavers swim up to 5 mph
using only their large webbed hind feet, and can remain underwater for fifteen minutes. Their
eyelids are transparent.
Basics about their biology
Beavers have 20 teeth of which 16 are molars. Their front four incisors never stop growing. The
back side of their teeth are softer and wear away more easily so when they chew on wood, it helps
to sharpen their front teeth like a chisel. They build lodges to live in, working from the inside out to
create a maze of branches and mud. There is a chamber inside that has two tunnels going to it.
The lodge protects them from predators, such as coyotes, wolves and bears that would like to eat
them!
American Indians called the beaver the "sacred center" because the dams they build cause the
area to flood and create wetland habitat for many different animals. Beaver dams also provide
flood protection by restricting water flow. But, their dams also cause a lot of trouble for people, and
can cost up to $100 million in property damage each year. The largest dam ever found was in
Montana, and was over 2,000 feet long, 14 feet high, and 23 feet wide at the base.
The two biggest beavers ever found were 96 and 110 pounds and were in Maine and Missouri.
Their large flat tail helps them to stand up on their hind legs and balance. The tail is 6-12 inches
long. They have two layers of fur that traps air to keep them warm. Their front paws are not
webbed and are very dexterous like hands so that they can carry things and dig and build.
What do they eat?
Beavers eat tree bark, leaves and buds, water lilies and cattails. They also eat plants that are in
and around the fresh water where they live. However, Beavers do not eat fish! They are
herbivores. They store lots of food in the fall near their lodge for them to eat all winter. They do
not hibernate. The lodge entrance is underwater so they can swim out under the ice in the winter
when they need to get to the food they stored.
What do Beavers do in the winter?
They spend most of the winter inside the lodge, going out briefly under the ice to get a stick to
munch on. If you find a beaver lodge in the winter, you can tell if the beavers are inside. The heat
of their bodies will melt the snow off the top of the lodge, and if you sneak up quietly, you might
hear them moving around inside.
We hope that all this fun information will help us save the beavers at Sanfordville, and if they make
another lodge there that it is not destroyed again.
