How many beavers live in a colony

For relatively little work they can create a large dam and pond. Each beaver colony will usually establish one large pond which where they will build their lodge. In addition to this primary pond other smaller dams up and downstream are usually built to create smaller ponds. These smaller ponds permit safe travel for the beaver as it seeks out new food supplies. The average beaver colony will dam a half-mile length of a small stream.

Beavers are monogamous and mate for life. They do not breed until they are two to three years old. In Massachusetts the female becomes pregnant during the winter and gives birth in May or June..

Beavers have one litter of 1 — 6 kits per year. The availability of food appears to affect the size of the litter. Only the adult female breeds. The average number of beavers in an established family is typically six or seven beavers. We have seen as few as one and as many as thirteen. Once a beaver reaches the age of two they will usually leave the colony to find a mate and establish a colony of their own. This is the most very dangerous time in the life of a beaver.

Not only can they be killed by predators or cars, other beavers will attack them if they enter their ponds. Beavers have been noted to travel ten or more miles searching for a place to live. Beavers have a highly organized social structure. Young beaver appear to play and wrestle with their siblings.

This helps to develop their motor skills. They will groom each other using their hands and teeth. The dams are engineered according to the speed of the water; in slow water the dam is built straight, but in fast water the dam is built with a curve in it.

This provides stability so that the dam will not be washed away. The lodges are made of sticks, mud and rocks. In faster rivers and streams, beavers sometimes build lodges into the sides of banks. Some lodges are large enough to fit a human inside them. They mate in January-February, and one to eight young are born in April-May. Beavers reach maturity in years and live about 16 years. Female beavers are sexually mature at 2. They give birth to one litter of kits per year, usually between April and July.

The gestation period is about 3 months. The litter usually consists of 4 kits, but up to 8 is possible. They are born with all of their fur, their eyes open, and their incisor teeth erupted. Lodges are dome-shaped structures built of sticks and mud with a large interior chamber above the water line. Lodges vary in size from 6 to 40 feet, depending on the number of beavers in the colony. Beavers sometimes dig burrows into the banks of ponds, rivers and drainage ditches instead of building a lodge.

All lodge and bank den entrances, normally two or more, are located underwater. Beavers live in family units called colonies, which range in size from two to eight beavers the average colony size is five to six. Beavers are highly territorial animals, and they actively defend the colony's territory against outsiders by using scent marking. When beavers become sexually mature around age two, they leave their home colony to form a colony of their own.

Individual movements vary greatly. Many lodges have an underwater backdoor for instant swimming access. Beavers are primarily nocturnal. They spend most of their time eating and building. Beaver create dams to make ponds, their favorite place to live. Dams are created by weaving branches together, felling trees by cutting them down with their teeth, and waterproofing the construction with mud. Dams can be several meters in length and up to 6. Beavers also dig canals to bring water from large bodies of water to their feeding area.

Beavers have a tremendous impact on ecosystems. Dams alter the flow of rivers and can flood hundreds of acres. Dams prevent erosion and raise the water table, which helps purify the water as silt builds up and breaks down toxins, according to ADW. As sediment and debris build up, carbon increases and nitrogen decreases. The chemical changes alter the type of invertebrates, and the new water source attracts new species of birds, fish and amphibians.

Flooded timber dies off and a forest becomes an open water ecosystem. Over time, abandoned dams decay, and meadows appear. Unlike other mammals, beavers can digest cellulose, which is a major component of their diet, according to ADW. Beavers eat leaves, roots and bark from aspens, willows, maples and poplar trees.