Have I mentioned that T1 is obsessed with beavers? We're learning all we can about them. A few days ago I posted mysteriously boring video on some phenomenon we saw happening directly behind the beaver dam we're watching. Since then we've learned a few things.

• Beavers don't actually live in the dams
• Beavers live in lodges
• Beavers often share their lodge with muskrats
• Beaver actually do eat wood (the tender inner wood)
• Baby beavers are called Kits
• Even the kits practice dam building by trying to dam up little rivulets of water with leaves and mud
• Beavers dam making is a community project
• Beavers make dams so they will have more area to hide and it makes it easier to acquire food
• The largest dam was 2,140 feet long, 14 feet high, and 23 feet thick at the base
• Dams are very beneficial. They often create Wetlands.
• Beavers slap their tails to make a loud sound and vibration to warn other beavers of danger
• otters often bore through the dams to allow fish to flow through to shallower water, making it easier to fish.

Here is a really good diagram on how the whole beaver dam/lodge/community thing works! Click on it if you need a better view.