Gnawing Is Just No Fun for a Beaver With Tooth Problems
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In this occasional Page Three feature, photographer Joe Elbert uses a camera to show you inside Washington's National Zoo. You can see his videos by visiting http:/
Even beavers visit the dentist.
Chipper, an 8-year-old American beaver, has a history of dental issues. His teeth have been closely watched since 2007. National Zoo veterinarian Carlos Sanchez and veterinary dentist and zoo consultant Barron Hall recently determined that three of Chipper's teeth should be extracted.
After surgery, Chipper was moved into a warm cage with comfortable blankets. After a few hours of observation, the beaver was returned to his lodge and family. Keepers are keeping a close watch on Chipper to make sure he eats and doesn't suffer complications.
The beaver is North America's largest rodent and the world's second largest, after the capybara of South America. As rodents, beavers have continuously growing incisors, so gnawing on trees not only provides lots of building material, but also keeps their teeth short and sharp. Without gnawing, the teeth would grow long enough to prevent the beaver from eating.
Beavers are well known for constructing dams across waterways to form ponds. The ponds and marshy areas attract many new species of insects, birds, plants and other animals that live in still water.
A beaver's home, or lodge, is usually built near the water's edge. Each lodge has one nesting chamber located above the water's surface, and it is accessed through underwater channels.
Beavers generally mate for life and live in family units of the parents and 3 or 4 beaver kits.
Beavers were once intensely hunted because of their fur, which consists of two coats: a dense, soft inner coat that keeps them warm and a coarser, oily outer coat that keeps them dry.
To warn other beavers of danger, beavers will slap their flat tails against the water, and the sound can be heard for great distances above and below the water. If threatened, beavers will dive under the water. They can stay under for 15 minutes.
And the 'Zoo Clues' Winner Is . . .
Last week in this space, we published a "Zoo Clues" photo taken by Joe Elbert at the National Zoo, and we asked you to identify the animal in the picture. The animal in the photo, a beaver, was correctly identified by Charles Chesanow of Silver Spring.
