The beaver (genus Castor) is a large, primarily nocturnal, semiaquatic rodent.

  Beavers are known

for building dams, canals, and lodges (homes). They are the second-largest rodent in the world
(after the capybara). Their colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect
against predators, and to float food and building material. The North American beaver population
was once more than 60 million, but as of 1988 was 6–12 million. This population decline is the result
of extensive hunting for fur, for glands used as medicine and perfume, and because the beavers'
harvesting of trees and flooding of waterways may interfere with other land uses.

Beavers, along with pocket gophers and kangaroo rats, are castorimorph rodents, a suborder of

rodents mostly restricted to North America. Although just two closely related species exist today,
beavers have a long fossil history in the Northern Hemisphere beginning in the Eocene, and many
species of giant beaver existed until quite recently, such as Trogontherium in Europe,
and Castoroides in North America.

A beaver using its teeth to cut down a tree

Beavers are known for their natural trait of building dams on rivers and streams, and building their
homes (known as "lodges") in the resulting pond. Beavers also build canals to float building
materials that are difficult to haul over land.[3][4] They use powerful front teeth to cut trees and other
plants that they use both for building and for food. In the absence of existing ponds, beavers must
construct dams before building their lodges. First they place vertical poles, then fill between the
poles with a crisscross of horizontally placed branches. They fill in the gaps between the branches
with a combination of weeds and mud until the dam impounds sufficient water to surround the lodge.
They are known for their alarm signal: when startled or frightened, a swimming beaver will rapidly
dive while forcefully slapping the water with its broad tail, audible over great distances above and
below water. This serves as a warning to beavers in the area. Once a beaver has sounded the
alarm, nearby beavers will dive and may not reemerge for some time. Beavers are slow on land, but
are good swimmers, and can stay under water for as long as 15 minutes.
Beavers do not hibernate, but store sticks and logs in a pile in their ponds, eating the underbark.
Some of the pile is generally above water and accumulates snow in the winter. This insulation of
snow often keeps the water from freezing in and around the food pile, providing a location where
beavers can breathe when outside their lodge.

The fore foot, hind foot, and tail of a beaver. The hind feet of beavers are webbed.

Beavers have webbed hind-feet, and a broad, scaly tail. They have poor eyesight, but keen senses
of hearing, smell, and touch. A beaver's teeth grow continuously so they will not be worn down by
chewing on wood.[5] Their four incisors are composed of hard orange enamel on the front and a
softer dentin on the back. The chisel-like ends of incisors are maintained by their self-sharpening
wear pattern. The enamel in a beaver's incisors contains iron and is more resistant to acid than
enamel in the teeth of other mammals.[6]
Beavers continue to grow throughout their lives. Adult specimens weighing over 25 kg (55 lb) are not
uncommon. Females are as large as or larger than males of the same age, which is uncommon
among mammals. Beavers live up to 24 years of age in the wild.

A young beaver is called a pup, kit or kitten.