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(b) The beaver is not Post Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:22:12 +0000 II The structural characters, which enable the otter (which see) to swim for protracted periods and to dive with skill, are for the most part repeated in the case of the beaver. (a) Compare what has been said in the case of the otter with regard to air-spaces between the hairs of the fur, the lubrication of the latter, the general form of the body, the importance of the tail, the shortness 3f the legs, the closure of mouth and nose. (b) The beaver is not nearly so rapid a swimmer as the otter, its body being much stouter, and only the hind-feet being webbed. Autor of the post: Undefined (c) The tail Post Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:08:41 +0000 Speed in swimming, however, is not of such importance to this animal, as it is a peaceful vegetable-eater, and does not, like the otter, feed on animals which flee at the sight of their enemy. The absence of webs on the fore-feet is also an advantage, as otherwise it would not be able to use them so effectively in its work as a builder. (c) The tail, which is broad, placed horizontally, and covered with scales, acts as a rudder. Autor of the post: Undefined With the strong claws Post Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:51:32 +0000 The animal changes its direction, how- ever,, chiefly by the flexibility of it vertebral column, especially of its neck, like other swimming mammals. (d) The ears are short and nearly hidden in the fur ; in swimming they are laid back so far as to close the auditory passage. With the strong claws of its fore-paws it digs an passages, underground dwelling. Autor of the post: Undefined Besides its underground dwelling Post Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:36:40 +0000 One or more long passages, which terminate below the surface of the water, lead to the chamber, the bottom of which is covered with grass or reeds. Here it spends the day at rest, feeding and working only during the night. Besides its underground dwelling, the beaver builds up more or less artistic structures in the water out of the trunks of trees, branches and brushwood. Autor of the post: Undefined The trees are cut Post Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:21:59 +0000 How is it enabled to do this ? (a) By means of the powerful incisor teeth, which in felling trees serve it as an axe. If it wishes to fell a tree, it gnaws round the trunk, especially on the side facing the water, until it bends and falls ; trees of as much as 2 feet in diameter have been felled in this manner. The trees are cut in pieces for use in building, unless they are too strong, when the branches are stripped off. Autor of the post: Undefined (c) By means Post Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:06:04 +0000 The bark and leaves serve as food, the bark of willows, poplars and aspen being specially preferred. () While engaged in building the beaver sits erect on its hind-feet, the broad tail serving as an additional support. (c) By means of the fore-paws, which, not being webbed, can be used as hands, it holds tight the branches which it detaches from the tree or from which it is gnawing the bark. Autor of the post: Undefined (3) Where beavers live Post Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:53:05 +0000 The structures erected by the beaver are of four kinds : (1) If the surface of the water sinks so low as to expose the opening of the passage which leads to its dwelling, the beaver covers it with an interlacing meshwork of brushwood, by which contrivance it is enabled to reach the water without being observed. ( k 2) If in consequence of a heavy fall of rain the thin roof of earth above its chamber should fall in, it covers the opening thus formed with a heap of branches from 7 to 10 feet in height, and in shape resembling a charcoal kiln. (3) Where beavers live in large companies, as is still the case in North America, they erect what are known as "beaver castles" at shallow spots of rivers or lakes. Autor of the post: Undefined In their interior we find Post Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:33:53 +0000 These consist of mounds or heaps shaped like a baker's oven, from 7 to 10 feet in height, and about 10 or 11 feet in breadth, and composed of tree-trunks and branches roughly piled together. These structures are then covered over with sand, mud, earth, reeds and pieces of turf, which the animals carry up in their mouths. In their interior we find, besides the animals' dwelling-places, also store-chambers for the winter, in which they hoard up pieces of bark and all sorts of roots. Autor of the post: Undefined Similar structures are erected Post Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:20:53 +0000 The European beaver, also, when driven out of its home by floods, builds on land structures similar to these, though much less extensive. (4) If the level of the water of a brook or stream sinks so low that the beaver can no longer move without hindrance in the shallow water, it builds a dam for stemming back the water. Similar structures are erected in lakes and ponds for the purpose of damming up the inflow water. Autor of the post: Undefined It must increase our wonder Post Date: Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:09:23 +0000 These dams consist of tree-trunks bound together with reeds, osiers, etc., and cemented with mud, clay, etc. It must increase our wonder to learn that in North America these dams sometimes attain to a length of about 600 feet, and a height of from 7 to 10 feet, with a thickness of from 13 to 20 feet at the bottom, and 3J to 7 feet at the top. 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