A member of the family of large, water-dwelling rodents, the North American beaver ranks among the best-known symbols of the Canadian landscape, recognized by anyone who has stumbled on its gnawed stumps or dammed creeks in the backcountry. Beavers make their home in rivers, ponds, and wetlands across almost all of Canada, from the Yukon to the island of Newfoundland, and a single family will often stay on the same reach of water for many years. Adults are readily known by their thick brown coat, small rounded ears, and broad flat tail, which strikes the surface with a sharp crack to warn the colony of danger.

The beaver keeps to a slow and settled breeding cycle. A mated pair remains together for life and shares its lodge with the young of the past two seasons. The female usually gives birth in late spring to a small litter of kits, which arrive already furred and with their eyes open. The kits can swim within days, yet they remain inside the lodge for several weeks, nursed by the mother and watched over by the whole family before they venture out into open water.