Dam-building is synonymous with beavers, the ultimate aquatic engineers.
Using branches from trees they have felled, these large rodents dam lakes to create moat-like ponds of still water where they construct islands known as ‘conical lodges’ out of timber, mud and rocks.
The body of water surrounding the lodges provides protection from predators – resident beavers enter and exit their
sophisticated homes incognito via waterfilled tunnels leading from the lodges to the pond.
The largest lodge, found in Alberta, Canada, measures over 500m in length – though, contrary to a widely circulated myth, it is not visible from space! In deep or fast-moving water areas, beavers simply excavate into river banks and set up home there instead.
Using branches from trees they have felled, these large rodents dam lakes to create moat-like ponds of still water where they construct islands known as ‘conical lodges’ out of timber, mud and rocks.
The body of water surrounding the lodges provides protection from predators – resident beavers enter and exit their
sophisticated homes incognito via waterfilled tunnels leading from the lodges to the pond.
The largest lodge, found in Alberta, Canada, measures over 500m in length – though, contrary to a widely circulated myth, it is not visible from space! In deep or fast-moving water areas, beavers simply excavate into river banks and set up home there instead.
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