Why do Beaver do this?

PineCone

PineCone

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Why do they chop up a log like this? I know they eat the bark. Do they consume any of the wood? In Troy , VT in 1979 I found a tree that had been felled by beaver. It was OVER 2ft in diameter! It had started to cut another section about 4 ft long. I couldn't have moved it myself. It won't be part of their dam.PC
 
someones pet beaver cutting winter firewood. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I've come across logs of this size in caches the beav's make before ice in. but a tree like you discribed beats me.
 
In fall beaver cut big trees to get at the branches at the top of the tree. They then put the branches in their feed pile in the water near the lodge to eat during the winter.

Sometimes they cut a tree and it does not fall all the way but hangs up in other trees. Usually the bottom of the cut tree does fall off the stump. Sometimes it falls but gets stuck horizontally about 2 feet off the ground. In these cases the beaver cuts the tree again, and again ... That results in those short chunks of wood you have in the picture. They will also eat the bark off the log portion of big trees they cut.

They eat only the bark of trees, hardwoods. If they can move it they put it in the feed pile but eat only the bark. If it is a small bush smaller than a pencil they will sometimes eat the whole thing. In summer they eat mostly plants that grow in and around the pond. In spring they will eat some cedar bark and spruce or fir. Craving something maybe. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
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The tree hanging up makes good sense. I am now smarter. We were out camping once as a kid. There was a huge tree that a beaver had started to chew on. Then it restarted 2 feet up. then again a nother foot up. Finally about 6 foot off the ground they fell the tree.

My theory as a young kid was that the tree showed each year the bever grew. Off course it would have been a 6ft tall beaver, but hey it was cool.

Later I found out that the beaver was trying to cut the tree down as the snow raised.
 
Yes Joetrapper, that VT tree was way up off the ground.

And elks, until this minute,I also thought that beaver must have been huge. The cut was over 3ft up. I never thought of the snow thing. Duh /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif I'm glad I have you guys on this forum to do some of my thinking for me.Thanks PC
 
That's interesting what beaver do in different areas. Around here when snow comes in the fall beaver ponds freeze at the same time and beaver do not come out until early April when ice opens. Sometimes in late March they will go up on the snow to cut a small bush or something, but we do not have much snow by then anyway.

That would be something to see - tree cut by a beaver six feet up. Deep snow in Colorado mountains I bet.
 
Mine was definitely a beaver all the way. I have found several areas where the beavers had chewed several trees several feet off the ground. Up here the steams and ponds may thaw as early as Apirl and the snow drift can last as late as the end of July. In some cases I think they like the snow. It is easier to pack thing around on.
 
The thing I wonder about is why do I see that they have attacked and cut down large evergreen trees when there are plenty of aspens standing and some even closer to the pond than the evergreen.
 
I have seen the same thing with evergreen. I saw a post a month or so ago that had an explaination that I can't remember, but remember it making sense to me. Nor sure if it was on this site or the trapperman site.
 
I thought they were turds, caused by being constipated from eating to much wood. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
Crapshoot, don't you think those would hurt??? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif Crapshoot... again you crack me up! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I saw a documentry a year or so ago on beaver and their explanation was this, beavers only eat the bark not the wood because it has cellulose which they turn into sugar for energy, they knaw on wood excessively to file down their teeth because they continue to grow, if they didn't their teeth would curl back into their mouths and grow into their jaws and kill them. It makes sense since a house dogs claws can do the same. With that said I never heard them even ask the beavers for their reasons, I like the obsessive/compulsive answer myself
 


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