**** Info via Hope for Wildlife
Happy International Beaver Day!
Being one of Canada’s national emblems, pretty much every day in Canada is a beaver kind of day, but April 7th is specifically recognized as International Beaver Day. It was created in 2009 by Beavers Wetlands & Wildlife, a U.S. non-profit organization in order to mark the birthday of beaver researcher Dorothy Richards (known as the “Beaver Woman”), who was born in 1894. Richards engaged in the study of beavers for 50 years of her life.
In honour of beavers, we would like to share two amazing facts about them!
Do you ever feel like you need more than 24 hours in day to get stuff done? So do beavers! In fact, they don’t do the whole 24-hour day thing at all. Nocturnal beavers don’t get a lot of light – in their lodges and underwater, light levels remain constantly low, so sunrise and sunset are not apparent to them. Without those solar cues, a beaver’s activity is not synchronized with the solar day. Their circadian rhythm, or day cycle, has become longer, varying in length from 26 to 29 hours.
They have also learned that cold preserves food, and they use their ponds just like you use your fridge. They will store branches on the muddy pond floor beneath their lodges to eat during the winter, because they usually have to spend most of their time inside their homes and under the ice. The cool water keeps the stems fresh, preserving their nutrients.
The next time you’re out for a hike near a pond, try to say hello to a beaver and ask them how their day is going. They will probably say “long!”.
