Beavers

By Margaret G. Mosher

Can you unscramble the underlined words in these beaver facts?

1. So that they can build a mda, the first thing newly paired beavers do is search for a esrmat running through a wooded area.

2. They gnaw through trees with their four chisel-edged ehtte and use the anbcrehs with umd and ksorc to hold back the water and form a pond. These rodents kwro mostly at gtnhi.

3. When the water is deep enough, the beavers build a egdlo, which will be their home. Netnul entrances under the water keep enemies out.

4. Beavers have a flat liat and wdbbee hind feet that help them be excellent rsmwsiem. Their esye and asre shut tightly to keep water out.

5. The mcbreha inside the lodge is 4″–6″ (10 cm–15 cm) above the water. Ira for the beavers to breathe comes in through a section of the dome orfo that is not chinked with mud.

6. Beavers like to eat svlaee, usdb, abkr, wstgi, and butres (fleshy roots). They store branches under the rewta so that they will have odfo when ice covers the npdo.

7. The female beaver lines the chamber with wood vasighns and shredded bark before skti are born in the nrsigp. The young sevrbae stay with their parents until they are otw. Then they leave to find a emta and dbliu their own homes.

Answers:

• (1) dam, stream; (2) teeth, branches, mud, rocks, work, night; (3) lodge, tunnel; (4) tail, webbed, swimmers, eyes, ears; (5) chamber, air, roof; (6) leaves, buds, bark, twigs, tubers, water, food, pond; (7) shavings, kits, spring, beavers, two, mate, build.