The phrase busy beavers comes from the fact that beavers are compulsive dam builders. Beavers are always working, cutting down new trees and fixing their dam. Scientists believe that the trigger for this obsession is the sound of running water and possibly even the sight of running water. When loudspeakers playing running water noises are placed near a beaver dam the beavers will continue to gather wood and add to their dam even though it is clearly finished.
In other blog posts we've briefly described why beaver dams are very important to ecosystems, but why are beaver dams important to beavers? For one thing, a dam creates a reservoir of water that beavers can use as a home. While beavers are good swimmers, they are much worse on land, so a large pond is very preferable for moving around, finding food, and creating new opportunities for food.
When a number of beaver colonies stay in the same place for a long period of time, beaver dams have the potential to become enormous. Spotted on Google Earth, the largest beaver dam stretches almost a kilometer! Located in Wood Buffalo National Park in Alberta, the dam is 850 m long and has been under construction for over 40 years; however, oddly enough, nobody knew it existed until 2007. The old record holder was a 652 m dam in Three Forks, Montana.
Behold! The world's largest beaver dam:
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