Beaver Life

All beavers need water to survive. They live in or around freshwater ponds, lakes, rivers, marshes and swamps. American beavers live throughout North America, but stay clear of deserts and the far northern areas of Canada. Eurasian beavers once lived all over Europe and Asia. Now, they only live in small numbers throughout southern Scandinavia, Germany, France, Poland, and central Russia due to overhunting.

A beaver’s home is called a lodge. Lodges are little dome-shaped houses made from woven sticks, grasses and moss plastered with mud. They that can be up to 8 feet (2.4 m) wide and up to 3 feet (1 m) high inside, according to ADW. Lodges are built on the banks of ponds, on islands or on lake shores, just barely above water level. Many lodges have an underwater backdoor for instant swimming access.