After a hundred years of absence, in the 70s beavers were settled again in Austria. A total of 32 European and 15 Canadian beavers were set up by the team of the Institute for Comparative Behavioral Research and the City of Vienna along the Danube. The Canadian beavers disappeared soon after their settlement - presumably they fell ill with domestic rodent diseases, on which their immune system was not prepared.
Beaver mother passing by
The European beavers, who were brought from Poland, Sweden and Belarus to Austria, felt more comfortable in Austria and soon conquered the native river landscapes. The fact that two species are differentiated within the genus beavers was not known at the time of the suspension. The disease and disappearance of canadian beavers is ultimately a positive one because the introduction of foreign species means a falsification of the fauna and can have unimaginable consequences for the nature.
Vegetarian - A beaver weighs 35 kg on average and reaches a length of 135 cm. He feeds mainly on bark - he falls trees with his long incisors and builds food rafts. A winter stock of several branches.
Beaver parents live with their children from their year of birth until the next generation (normaly two years) is born, in their family district. The pairing takes place in the winter. After about 3 months, 2 to 4 baby beavers are born. If the beaver expects a new generation, the now two-year-old children are expelled from the area and have to look for their own territories.
Frequently, long distances have to be covered and strange beaver revivals have to be traversed. Since beavers defend their territories extremely vehemently, this is often associated with brutal battles. Many young beavers die on their way to their own area.
With my friend Benedikt - who found a place in St. Pölten where it is very easy to see the beavers - we took the chance to take photos of a beaver Family in their territory, Benedikt found out what they really like to have, so we took the chance to server them teir meal of choice. This gave us the possibility to get really close.
Used Sources: WWF.at Webpage