This area is named after the late Dr. Ralph Perry and his wife, Martha, who donated both land and money to create the conservation area.
Media
Scientific Name
Castor canadensis
Family
Castoridae (beavers) in the order Rodentia
Description
The American beaver is a large rodent associated with waterways and wetlands. It has webbed hind feet; a large, relatively hairless, horizontally flattened tail; a blunt head with small eyes and ears; a short neck; and a stout body. The color is a uniform dark brown above with lighter underparts and a blackish tail.
Similar species: Two other aquatic rodents in Missouri might be confused with beavers. The common muskrat, found statewide, has a long tail that is slightly flattened vertically, and it is a smaller animal, usually only weighing 2–4 pounds. The introduced nutria, which sometimes occurs in southeastern Missouri, has a tail that is round in cross-section, and at 15–25 pounds, it is intermediate in size between beaver and muskrat.
Size
Total length: 34–54 inches; tail length: 9–17 inches; weight: 26–90 pounds.
Where To Find
Beavers occur statewide near streams and wetlands. They are least common in the Mississippi Lowlands.
Habitat and Conservation
In Missouri, beavers live in and along streams, rivers, marshes, and small lakes. Though they are famous for dam building, in Missouri they are less likely to construct dams than they are in regions farther west and north. Instead, in our faster and fluctuating streams, they usually excavate a den in a high bank. In both lodges and bankside dens, the entrance is usually below water. Beaver restoration efforts have brought their numbers to levels allowing an annual harvest.
Food
In spring and fall, beavers eat woody and nonwoody vegetation. In summer, they eat mostly nonwoody plants; in winter, they eat mostly woody plants. Woody foods include the bark, new twigs, and new bark growth of a variety of trees and woody vines ranging from willows and cottonwood to oaks, hickories, sycamores, and wild grapevines. Nonwoody foods include corn, pond lilies, watercress, and many other herbaceous plants.
Status
Despite an extreme reduction in their colonies by about 1900, Missouri’s beaver population has been reestablished statewide.
Life Cycle
Life Cycle
Beavers are usually nocturnal but may also come out in the daytime, especially in fall when they are busy gathering food and preparing their dams and lodges for winter. They live in colonies — family groups comprising an adult male and female and their yearlings and kits. Breeding begins in January and February, and a single litter of usually 3 or 4 young is born in April, May, or June. The young are weaned after about 6 weeks but remain with the family for about 2 years.
Control
Human Connections
Beavers are harvested for their fur, which is used in coats and trimmings. Some people enjoy eating beaver meat. In the past, beaver fur, meat, and oil were immensely important in attracting both Native Americans and European settlers to our region.
Ecosystem Connections
Across the continent, the historic value of beaver damming is hard to estimate, when you consider their long-term impact on stream flow, creation of ponds, and causing silt to settle and create fertile valleys. This development of new habitats has a profound effect on the many other plants and animals requiring such conditions.
Signs and Tracks
Signs and Tracks
Front track:
- 3½ inches long
- 5 toes, though often only 3 or 4 toes leave a track.
Hind track:
- 6–7 inches long, 5 inches wide
- 5 toes, though often only 3 or 4 toes leave a track
- toes are webbed, though the marks are not always distinct
- hind track is often confused with goose tracks.
Other notes:
- Beaver are common on banks of rivers and other aquatic habitats where trees are nearby.
- On steep banks, look for scratch marks.
- Hind tracks are positioned just in front of the front tracks, but often they land directly on top of the front tracks so that the front tracks are indistinguishable.
- The flat tail often drags down the middle, sometimes obliterating foot tracks.
- The claws leave marks.
- Toe pad prints and heel pad prints are not separated (the entire finger leaves print).
- Look for other beaver sign, especially their distinctively gnawed and felled trees and branches.
- Trees are usually cut in autumn. In the summer, beaver eat more green foods, such as giant ragweed.
- Beaver generally forge a trail and then stick to it. Thus their tracks often overlap a great deal. Over time, the trail can turn into a little trench.
- Scats are not commonly seen, because beaver usually poop in the water. Scats are sometimes seen in ice in winter.
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Media Gallery
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In spring and fall, beavers eat woody and nonwoody vegetation. In summer, mostly nonwoody plants are eaten; in winter, mostly woody foods are eaten.
Credit
Jim Rathert
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A beaver has webbed hind feet; a large, relatively hairless, horizontally flattened tail, a blunt head, small eyes and ears, a short neck, and a stout body.
Credit
Noppadol Paothong
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Despite an extreme reduction in their colonies by about 1900, Missouri’s beaver population has been reestablished throughout the state.
Credit
Jim Rathert
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A tree that has been cut down by a beaver.
Credit
David Stonner
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In winter, beaver eat mostly woody plants, including the bark, new twigs, and new bark growth of a variety of trees and woody vines.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
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Though beavers are famous for dam building, in Missouri they are less likely to construct dams than they are in regions farther west and north.
Credit
Jim Rathert
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In Missouri, beaver usually do not construct lodges and dams. The beaver lodge at Columbia's Cosmo Park was a notable exception.
Credit
Jim Rathert
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Young beavers are weaned after about 6 weeks but remain with the family for about 2 years.
Credit
Mark Sullivan
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Caption
In winter, beaver eat mostly woody plants, including the bark, new twigs, and new bark growth of a variety of trees and woody vines.
Credit
Julianna Schroeder
Right to Use
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Video of a beaver in the wild
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Audio clip of beaver sounds
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Similar Species
Similar Species
Where to See Species
Long Ford Access was purchased in 2003. It lies adjacent to the Route B Bridge on the Osage Fork of the Gasconade River.
Miller Community Lake is 27-acres and has a one-mile surrounding hiking trail, a boat ramp and picnic tables. At normal pool the lake has a maximum depth of 18 feet.
This area was donated to the Conservation Department by S.P. Glover and W.P. Forman of Shelbyville in 1963.
About Mammals in Missouri
More than 70 species of wild mammals live in Missouri: opossums; shrews and moles; bats; rabbits; woodchuck, squirrels, beaver, mice, voles, and other rodents; coyote, foxes, bear, raccoon, weasels, otter, mink, skunks, bobcat, and other carnivores; deer and elk; and more. Most of us recognize mammals easily — they have fur, are warm-blooded, nurse their young, and breathe air.