A Short Course on Beavers
In the popular imagination beavers seem to be all teeth and tail. And there is no doubt that the tail is something to reckon with, even for beavers. In the photo below the beaver seems to be shaking his tail by its root:
Well, he wasn't fanning himself because it was hot. There's ice on the pond. I think he was massaging a muscle that he might have strained while escaping from a burrow in the bank that I walked over a few minutes before. And to manage that tail beavers have a strong muscle. Look at this more characteristic use of the tail which you will become rather familiar with if you spend time watching beavers. Of the mammals that swim in ponds, the beaver commonly splashes the water with its tail
