Why are beavers instinctively driven to build dams?
…Quote… Beaver dams may be good for nature, but why do beavers build them? In short, a dam creates a body of water that makes a relatively safe neighborhood for a beaver family. Since beavers are very good swimmers but fairly slow on land, deeper water creates a habitat where they can find more protection from bears and other predators. Beavers are nocturnal but they don’t spend all night in the ponds or slow-moving streams created by their dams. Instead, they build lodges — houses where a beaver couple and their children live. Beavers gather sticks, mud, rocks and other available materials to shape these mound-like structures. A group of lodges forms a beaver colony and houses multiple beaver families. A skilled construction team, a pair of beavers takes just a few days to build a basic dam. A large dam can be up to 10 feet (3.3 meters) high and tens of feet (.33 meters) wide. Just like they make lodges, these rodents use just about anything they can put their paws on to build t
