Animal Quick Facts
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Size
Adults weigh 40 to 60 pounds and grow up to 40 inches in length.
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Diet
Will eat soft aquatic vegetation when available, but prefer trees that grow along streams such as alders and willows. They also eat maple, poplar, beech, and aspen. At the Zoo, beavers eat apples, yams, lettuce, carrots, and rodent chow.
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Lifespan
10.2 years (median life expectancy of males and females combined)
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Range
Most of North America – excluding Florida, the Southwest, and Mexico.
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Habitat
Ponds, lakes, rivers, marshes, and streams.
Castor canadensis
Location in the Zoo: Kids Kingdom
The American beaver has very prominent front teeth (central incisors), generally stained an amber color, which are always growing and must be used consistently to keep them trimmed back.
Female beavers are believed to be monogamous whereas some think males may breed with more than one female. Gestation is 90-100 days, and the female generally gives birth to three to six young. Kits born in the family will usually only stay for about two years before setting out to establish independent adult lives.