The Pond a Beaver Family Makes
Two short texts explore a beaver pond as a habitat: the first explains how beavers build and use a pond, while the second explains how that pond supports them through winter.
Play the quiz as a gameText 1: Making a Pond
A beaver needs water deep enough to swim through. Some beavers find that water in lakes or rivers. On a shallow stream, however, a beaver family may build a dam. This wall of branches, mud, and stones slows the current, or moving water. Water collects behind the dam, making a pond.
The pond gives the beavers room to travel. They can swim from their home to nearby trees and shrubs. Beavers eat bark and the soft layer beneath it, along with other plants. They carry branches through the water to places where they eat or build. A pond is a watery path as well as a home.
Beavers check their dam and add material where water leaks through. Keeping the pond deep helps them reach their shelter, called a lodge. Its entrance is underwater. A drawing beside this text has the caption, "The dam holds back water; the lodge holds the family."
Text 2: A Pond in Winter
For beavers in places with cold winters, a pond is useful in another way. Before winter, the family stores branches in the water near its lodge. When ice covers the pond's surface, the beavers can still swim beneath it. They collect food from the stored branches instead of searching along a frozen shore.
A lodge is usually a mound of sticks and mud. Inside, a dry room sits above the water level. Its floor is covered with soft plant material. The underwater entrance connects this room to the pond. Even when the surface freezes, the beavers can move between their shelter and their food.
The family also works on the dam before winter. A deep pond is less likely to freeze all the way to the bottom than a shallow one. The dam helps keep the water level steady, without big changes. Together, the pond, lodge, and stored branches help the family meet its needs during the cold months.