- Beavers are the second largest rodent.
- The beaver was the main currency of the fur trade. Pelts were trapped in the hinterland by natives, exchanged for goods at trading posts and shipped to Europe to be treated with mercury to make felt for hats.
- Beaver tails are sweet hunks of deep-fried dough that are popular on Ottawa’s Rideau Canal. They set back sugar-craving ice skaters $3.50.
- Newborn beavers are able to swim within hours of being born.
- Beavers were practically wiped out in Europe by demand for castor oil, a bitter excretion that was used to treat pains and is still used to scent perfumes.
- The buckteeth of a beaver never stop growing.
- Jerry Mathers gnashed some impressive buckteeth himself as star of Leave it to Beaver, a sit-com that debuted in 1957.
- Beavers dam waterways with a mass of mud, rocks and sticks to create a pond that provides access to vegetation and protection from predators. The largest known beaver dam stretched nearly 1,500 metres across a river in Saskatchewan.
- Female beavers tend to grow larger than males.
- The mating practices of beaver—of interest to a large number of humans—involve mid-winter romantic dalliances under the ice.
- Beavers can hold their breath for 15 minutes.
- The legendary DeHavilland Beaver bush plane has taken more canoeists to more remote put-ins than any other airplane.
This article first appeared in the Fall 2007 issue of Canoeroots Magazine.
