Beaver Teaser
Tonight we wandered into the Nova Scotian twilight looking for beavers. This is the small mammal I am most excited in encountering this mammal while I'm here so I was hopeful the walk-about would produce a sighting and plenty of photo/video opportunities. At one point the female came outside of the dam and slapped her tail on the water to alert her babies that some suspicious looking humans were sitting on the shoreline.
Yesterday we took a walk-about to discover a variety of mammal-markings in the woods. It was also a way for us to practice the skills the Drs. Buesching and Newman have been teaching us. We took the video below thinking it was a beaver and then took the two photos below as further evidence of what we thought was a beaver (you may need to visit TQ in order to get the photos). Is this a beaver? Defend your thoughts...
posted by Mr. Gasteazoro @ 1:41 PM
8 Comments:
i think it is a beaver because i see his tall flapping
I think it is beaver because a beaver has a flat tail and a muskrat has a long tail. Also the muskrat only show his nose when swimming.
inquery; dose the muskrat den the same as a beaver?
We think that it's a beaver because, if it was a Muskrat, it would have been rabid, because Muskrats only have (sometimes) the top of there head showing when they swim. It couldn't be an Otter either because, Otters swim usually swim on their backs, and don't have paddle tails. In the video it showed a paddle tail and a dark brown head, which is the description of a beaver. Unless there's another animal that swims, chews down trees, has a paddle tail, and dark brown fur, that isn't a platypus.
we think
That it is a beaver because it's brown the black thing is his/hers tail that helps it paddle. And nothing else would be able to swim as fast as a beaver in that pond with it's head up. And and it flaps it's tail to warn all the other beavers that weird humans are close bye.
We think that the animal that you saw in the video is a Beaver because it couldn't be a Muskrat because usually when Muskrats swim you will only see the tip of their nose or the arch of their back but in the video you see the whole head. Also in the video you can see the tail of the animal slapping the water. By the look of it the tail looks large and flat which wouldn't fit the description of a Muskrat tail which is long and skinny like a rat's. The chewed trees in the Pic on TQ looked really high up. If it was a Beaver why were the chew marks up so high?
Active throughout the year, the American beaver is primarly nocturnal and most likely to be observed in the evening. A beaver has rounded ears and dark brown fur and a thick wide tail to help warn there dam. Beavers most likely live in Rivers,streams,lakes,ponds and marshes. They build there dams using berch,willow,aspen and mapel trees ,these are all soft wood trees. Simalar spices are the Muscrat and the Nutria with much smaller bodies and slender tails.
In the video you showed us we think is a beaver because of there thick wide tail and the dark brown fur and rounded ears.
We think that is very interesting, how the mother beaver slapped the shore line to warn the little beavers we thought that was interesting. It is amazing how the beavers knew how you were coming over to them. We think that it is a beaver because of the marks on the tree looked a lot like they were trying to take a bite of the tree. To be continued.
Ohhh - you all fell for my trap!
My evidence does lead to the conclusion that there is a beaver in the area. The photos I left on TQ of a tree and poo in the water do appear to be the signs that a beaver would make. The fresh cuts on the tree are clearly those of an animal that prefers soft wood trees such as birch, which is the type of tree in the picture. The other photo is hard to confirm since the poo is underwater but it matches descriptions that field journals offer to suggest it is also a beaver sign.
The conclusive evidence that the animal sighted is not a beaver is in the tail. This is actually a muskrat. Beavers do not use their tales to help propel them in the water. It is used to help them stand and chew trees and to ward off potential predators (like us at the lake last night). A muskrat on the other hand has a long, thick tail much like a rat (just bigger). It uses the tail like a rudder on a ship to direct it while swimming. Another indicator that would lead an observer to conclude this is a muskrat and not a beaver is that the animal is on top of the water. Typically, a beaver will swim for long distances under the surface of the water. A muskrat does not have that superior swimming ability and will tend to swim on top of the water. It can go below the surface though like the beaver.
Looking forward to our iChat in an hour!
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