The beaver, North America's largest rodent, has long stood as an emblem of Canada, appearing on the five-cent coin and once driving the fortunes of the entire fur trade. Semi-aquatic by nature, it makes its home among the rivers, ponds, and wetlands that stretch across nearly every province. So intensively was the animal trapped for its dense, waterproof pelt during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that it very nearly disappeared from many regions; only after trapping was brought under control did its numbers slowly climb back. Both sexes grow the same rich brown coat, and a layer of insulating fat allows the beaver to stay active beneath the ice through the coldest months.

Among the beaver's most distinctive features are its teeth, which never stop growing and are coated in a hard, iron-rich enamel that lends them an orange tint. These self-sharpening incisors let the animal bring down sizeable trees within a matter of hours. A broad, scaly tail serves several purposes at once: it acts as a rudder while the animal swims, props it upright on land, and, when slapped hard against the water, warns the colony of approaching danger. Webbed hind feet and a set of transparent inner eyelids further equip the beaver for a life spent largely in the water.