Interesting facts about beavers for children: habitat, reproduction, care and nutrition

Beaver is a very beautiful and funny animal. Many people heard about him, but not everyone saw him live. Consonance with the name of the animal with such a word as "good", made it popular in the context of sharing. There is such a comic verse, the beginning of which reads as follows:

"As you know, beavers are kind.

The beavers are full of kindness.

To all who want their own good,

You just need to call the beaver ... "

So, let's look at the details of what these lovely animals are, where they live and what they eat, and also consider interesting facts about beavers.

Who is a beaver?

This is a mammal of a detachment of rodents. Beaver first appeared in Canada, it was from there that he came from. This is a trusting, intelligent and hardworking animal.

Previously, the Catholic Church considered beaver a fish, for this reason, its meat was eaten during fasting. As for the attitude of the Orthodox Church towards this, she categorically forbade eating his meat - this was considered a sin.

The beaver is one of the largest rodents, in Europe it takes the first place in this indicator, and in the world - the second.

For example, the weight of an adult male may be the same as that of an eight-year-old child. In addition to being famous for their diligence, these animals are also very daring. So, if the beavers are very frightened, they may attack. But just so they will not do it, only in case of danger.

Zverek in a natural habitat can live up to 14 years, but in captivity, even 2-3 times more.

How do they look?

He has a squat body and short legs. Between the fingers there are webs designed to better swim. The beaver has small eyes and short ears. The tail has a flat shape and resembles an oar. Basically their color is brown, but some individuals can be black. Weight about 20-30 kg, body length - about 1 meter.

Beavers have a third eyelid to better navigate in the water during the voyage. Some people think that the tail helps the beaver to swim, but it's not. In the water for this purpose, they use webbed hind paws. The tail serves more to maintain balance. With his help, they also regulate body temperature, and he is also a kind of pantry for storing fat. In addition, they slap them on the ground or water, thus warning each other of danger.

They have a special liquid that gives the animal a water-repellent effect.

Great builders

If you read interesting facts about beavers, you are truly amazed at their ability to build. The dams erected by them are visible even from outer space. They show incredible results in their construction. The length of the dams can be 700 meters. But this is not a record: this was the case when beavers in the state of New Hampshire built a dam that was 1.2 km long. On average, in order to build a 10 m dam, one beaver family requires a week of time.

About such an unusual animal as the beaver, interesting facts say that on average in his life he can saw 100 trees and build 50 dams.

They have access to the dwelling under the water, and the mink itself is made above this level.

Due to the powerful jaw muscles and sharp teeth, they have a great bite force. They are capable of pouring and powerful trees, but, unfortunately, for this reason just happens a lot of deaths of these animals.

Beavers are very skillful builders: the dams are extremely strong, and at the same time these animals have an amazing sense of choosing the most successful places for their construction.

Amazing beaver animal: interesting facts about it

They always learn something new about them, they are very interesting and kind creatures.

1. These animals try not to travel far from the water and are always near it within 200 meters.

2. Due to the large size of the lungs and liver, they can hold their breath for 15 minutes, which is a record for semi-aquatic mammals. During this time, this small animal can swim a decent distance, equal to 700 meters.

3. And here's another amazing fact: scientists who unearthed the remains of the beaver, who had remained since ancient times, were amazed. To think, it was the size of a man! The growth of the find was 165 cm, and the weight was 60 kg.

4. These animals easily snack small twigs, but they can cope with the whole tree. So, the beaver can peregryzt per night about 25 cu. Cm of some soft wood, like alder, aspen or poplar.

5. If we study interesting facts about beavers, we will find in them a fixed case, when the beaver was able to dump a thick tree, whose diameter was about 1 meter.

6. In Ancient Russia, in the event of theft of the beaver, a fine was imposed on the thief.

7. When the tribes of the Indians went hunting, they read a prayer, addressing the Great Beaver.

8. In Latin the word "beaver" sounds like a castor, from it the name of castor oil arose.

9. Beavers most often die from the fact that they are pressed down by trees, which, however, often they bring down themselves.

10. Interesting facts about beavers describe the case when one of the rodents lost the tooth and continued to grow. He grew to such a size that he began to reach the left eye. But these cases are still rare.

11. These animals in the city of Bobruisk are monuments. The image of this animal is on coins of Canada.

12. In winter, they do not go into hibernation, but simply become less active.

13. There was once a time when these animals were threatened with extinction, but thanks to the measures taken, the situation was rectified.

Offspring

Bobryat live with their parents about the same age as they will be 2 years old. They can have up to 5 children at once.

Beavers do not teach their offspring the skills of constructing a dwelling - in them this skill is already laid from birth.

In their family, as a rule, there are 5-9 individuals, including parents and their cubs, who, after leaving them, may live for a while alone. Each family is assigned a certain territory, which is assigned to them for many generations, its area can reach 3 square meters. M.

Beavers are monogamous. The main thing in the family is the mother. In their homes is always clean and warm.

For the winter they store a lot of food in the form of twigs of trees, so they do not have to worry about hunger.

And we continue the story about beavers.

Interesting facts: what do these animals eat?

Many believe that their diet is exclusively fish, but this is a misconception: beavers do not eat it at all. In fact, they are absolute vegetarians. The opinion that these animals eat fish, apparently, was formed due to the fact that they spend a lot of time in the water. But in fact they eat woody plants, because they knowingly are given powerful incisors. They like to eat wood of poplar, willow, birch, eat also young succulent shoots of plants.

Body features

The greatest activity is shown at night and at dusk. Some features of his body make life easier for a beaver. The split nail on the second finger allows combing his hair, and the tail, covered with hard scales, helps the animal to break through the depth.

The teeth of the beavers are sagging, and to compensate for this process, their incisors grow at a rather high speed - about 0.5 cm per month.

And now consider whether beavers can be domestic - interesting facts for children who, perhaps, will want to see this animal next to each other.

How should I take care of him?

Interesting facts about beavers, described above, concern their life in natural conditions. And what about life in captivity? The beaver can live and at home, although in this capacity it is rarely seen. Because keeping it is not easy. Beaver always needs something to gnaw and build, accordingly, he will try to do it and within the walls of the house. So just to settle it in an apartment would be impractical.

It is better for him to make a large nursery or cage. You need to give him wood so that he grinds his teeth. He does not eat meat. With the desire to eat wood bark, roots, shoots, brewer's yeast, nuts, herbaceous plants, mixed fodder, fruits and vegetables, special fodder mixtures.

Typically, the animal needs to be fed 1 time per day, in the evening. If we talk about the amount of food, then the daily rate is about 1 kg.

Next to the beaver should be a small pool, because they are accustomed to living in the water.

Basically these rodents are good-natured towards the person or they can treat him with indifference, without showing any emotions. But sometimes there are individuals who show aggression, but this just takes time to get used to.

Conclusion

Here we have considered interesting facts about beavers. In the world there are many creatures that cause genuine curiosity in humans, for example, among the insects, this is the dragonfly, which has reached our days since the Jurassic period. Interesting facts about dragonflies and beavers are, in fact, amazing and sometimes amazing. Did you know that a dragonfly is a predator? And its effectiveness during the hunt is 95%? Truly, a miniature machine for killing.