I'm just curious which animals would peel bark off a tree like this:
It's a riparian setting in the Mid Atlantic region. I was thinking maybe a beaver?
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Hi amphibient. Would you mind explaining what a riparian setting is? I'm not a hiker so I don't know the terminology. It's a cool word though! Thanks!– Sue Saddest Farewell TGO GLJan 4, 2017 at 20:12
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en.wiktionary.org/wiki/riparian– amphibientJan 4, 2017 at 20:14
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1 Answer
That was definitely a beaver. Nothing else has quite the chewing power of a beaver, for example accoring to Wikipedia, these trees were cut by beavers in a single night.
Based on the color of those chips, I would say that you were there less than a week if not sooner from when the beaver was chewing the tree down.
The reason that I don't think its a porcupine, is because of the riparian setting and because porcupines usually chew much higher up on a tree.
Fun fact, beaver's teeth never stop growing.
answered Jan 3, 2017 at 3:04
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And probably a young beaver. Notice the difference between the question and answer photos. The question photo, is not the work of an experienced worker who getting the job done. More like a teenager experimenting with a new discovery. Jan 3, 2017 at 13:36
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2@JamesJenkins: Do you have a source for the behaviour differences of young beavers? I'd be interested to read up on that. I have seen a ton of beaver traces with lots of rather wacky/nonsensical work (at least from our rational point of view) ... never assumed that this might be the work of 'inexperienced' animals so far.– fgysinJan 4, 2017 at 8:33
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@fgysin My beaver knowledge and experience is getting rusty, but as I recall young beavers are ejected from the home and travel to find partners and new homes. The rest is supposition. The image in the question is on a forest path. The images in the answer has no wasted motion. Assuming the question image is made by a beaver, it is not make by an adult building a dam. Jan 4, 2017 at 11:05
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Could also be that the beaver was feasting on the tree bark, as they do often. Mostly they go for the fresh young bark/branches/foliage near the top of the tree, but maybe this one was in the mood for something a bit... crunchier... :)– fgysinJan 4, 2017 at 12:13
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Beavers gnaw bark for food as the question photo indicates. The answer photo shows a tree felled for winter consumption, possibly underwater in a dam construction but not necessarily. Beavers use water to move branches more easily and safer (predators); most dam bark material will be consumed over winter.– michaelJan 7, 2017 at 13:59