What do beavers eat?

Note: Beavers do use plants as construction materials that they might not eat. Install barriers. The trunks of individual large trees can be loosely wrapped with 3 foot high, galvanized welded wire fencing, hardware cloth, or multiple layers of chicken wire (Fig. 6). Barriers can be painted to make them less noticeable. read more

Beavers are slow on land, but are good swimmers, and can stay under water for as long as 15 minutes. Beavers are herbivores, and prefer the wood of quaking aspen, cottonwood, willow, alder, birch, maple and cherry trees. They also eat sedges, pondweed, and water lilies. read more

Beavers are vegetarians (herbivores). They don’t eat any meat. The prefer to eat herbaceous plants, such as clover, raspberry canes and aquatic plants. They also enjoy eating bark, leaves and twigs of aspen and willow trees. Beavers also eat all sorts of grasses. The American beavers favorite food is the water lily. read more

Beaver diets are not fully consistent; they change by the season. In terms of diet, woody plants -- typically the inner bark of trees -- are a beaver favorite, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Consumption. read more