Beaver in North Eindhoven

The beaver is a diurnal animal, but in areas where it is regularly disturbed, it is mainly active at night. In undisturbed areas, it is mainly seen in the morning. Beavers are good swimmers. They can stay underwater for up to fifteen minutes, but a dive usually takes five to six minutes.

The beaver has a very extensive, but strictly vegetarian menu. In summer, it eats herbs, flowers, young shoots of aquatic plants, grasses and roots. In addition, it also eats all parts of trees and shrubs (trunk, branches, leaves and roots). It has a preference for willow, poplar and rattle poplar. He gnaws off the bark of the trunk with his razor-sharp teeth. His teeth continue to grow, because they wear out by using the teeth as tools for the construction of their castle and a dam. In winter it eats more twigs and bark, in summer more green plant parts.

Unlike most other rodents, the beaver does not hibernate in winter. In autumn, therefore, it builds up a food supply, consisting of branches and trunks of small trees. He anchors these under water, near the entrance. The cold water keeps the nutritional value of the bark for longer.

Leonard van Bakel