A Beaver Has Been Busy!

From U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Mountain-Prairie Region:

A beaver (Castor canadensis) has been gnawing on this very large and old cottonwood tree (Populus deltoides). Beaver do not typically chew all the way through the trunks of large trees, but rather weaken them and wait for the wind or other forces to do the rest of the work. Here on the prairies of the Kulm Wetland Management District in North Dakota, trees can be few and far between. Once a tree like this falls, the beaver has access to the smaller, tender branches which it chews off and carries away to build a lodge or store for food through the winter. 
Photo Credit: Krista Lundgren/USFWS 




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