Habitat

Beavers inhabit woodland areas of North America, Europe, and Asia (Sun and Mueller-Schwarze, 2003). The Castor canadensis lives in the shaded regions of North America below, and the Castor fiber lives in the shaded regions of Europe and Asia.

Image courtesy of Don E. Wilson and Sue Ruff from http://www.discoverlife.org/nh/tx/Vertebrata/ Mammalia/Castoridae/Castor/canadensis/	Adapted from Sun and Mueller-Schwarze, 2003

Beavers have a mostly aquatic lifestyle. They build lodges and dams, which consist largely of tree branches, stone, and mud, on rivers and ponds (Rosell and Czech, 2000). Both lodges and dams are vital resources for beavers. Lodges provide shelter that most predators cannot reach, because of both lodges' location on the water, and because of their underwater entrance (“Beaver: Canadian Domain,” 2004). Dams create pools of water in creeks and rivers that provide deep enough water for beavers to use as an escape from terrestrial predators (Rosell and Czech, 2000).

Beaver in Aquatic Habitat

Image courtesy of Jörg Salzer from http://www.biologie.uni-ulm.de/bio3/biber/bib_project.html

Beaver Lodge	Beaver Dam
Image courtesy of http://sevilleta.unm.edu/data/species/mammal/socorro/profile/american-beaver.html	Image courtesy of Eva Kattner from http://www.biologie.uni-ulm.de/bio3/biber/bib_project.html

Beavers inhabit a wide range of latitudes; beavers in North America live as far north as Alaska and as far south as the southern regions of Texas (Sun and Mueller-Schwarze, 2003). Because of their wide dispersal there is considerable differences in activity levels in the winter months between populations of beavers in northern and southern regions (Wheatley, I. Seasonal Variation, 1997). In some areas in the north beavers will spend almost the entire winter in a lodge and under the ice-capped water (Wheatley, I. Seasonal Variation, 1997). The more mild climates to the south allow for a wider range of travel for beavers during the winter (Wheatley, I. Seasonal Variation, 1997).