Beavers deserve a lot more respect than they usually get. I suspect the rodent thing works against them, as usual. The tail is ridiculous, there’s no doubt about that. They do good work, though. The pond next door has silted up, and now a willow fell into it, so it’s a big soggy twiggy mess. That willow will sprout and grow into dozens of new willows and in a few years, the pond will be gone. If you know of any out-of work beavers, send them my way. They would fix it in a jiffy.

By Steve from washington, dc, usa – American Beaver, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3963858

Here’s a great little video for you:

I read this book about 25 years ago and if you can find a copy, it’s worth reading:

Ryden, Hope. Lily Pond: Four Years with a Family of Beavers. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc. 1989