5 Beaver Facts for World Beaver Day

April 7, 2019

Celebrate the world's second largest rodent (including our very own Peanut the Beaver) with these tidbits from our kid blogger, Gabie!

It’s World Beaver Day, so I’m sharing all the reasons why beavers are amazing and important. Before I met Peanut the beaver at SeaWorld San Diego, I didn’t know much about beavers. She came to live at SeaWorld as a baby beaver with no family.

In school lessons and books for kids, beavers are cute, have big teeth, and build dams near water, but there is so much more for us to know. They are the second largest rodent in the world, and, while their population is stable now, we want to make sure to keep it that way.

Here are five fun beaver facts I’ve learned from SeaWorld:

Beavers do not hibernate but they do save up food, logs, and sticks for when snow and ice cover the ground.
They don’t see very well, but are able to hear and smell well.
Beavers are good swimmers and can stay underwater for 15 minutes!
Their front teeth keep growing, so they wear them down when chewing on wood. Iron deposits on their teeth make them look orange, but keep them very strong!
Their dams keep water in one place longer so it can go into the ground to help animals and people who rely on natural water sources.

Beavers are important for many different reasons and we need to make sure they stay safe. Let’s all celebrate beavers for World Beaver Day and make sure everyone knows why they are amazing animals!