Photo by Tony LePrieur / Getty Images
The Fur-Bearers are celebrating all things beavers this week with the 50th anniversary of Castor canadensis being named an official symbol of Canada. We’ve organized some of the best videos the internet has to offer about beavers into categories below for you to browse, enjoy, and share.
Best of Beavers for Kids
Learn Bright: Beavers for Kids
A great, kid-friendly introduction and overview of beavers, their lifestyle and habitats, and how they help the environment.
This natural history video is part of Nat Geo’s Awesome Animals series, and does a great job showing how and why beavers build dams and lodges.
Toronto Symphony Orchestra: Dam! The Story of Kit the Beaver
DAM! The Story of Kit the Beaver is an animated film that’s about not your average beaver! It’s the tale of Kit, a very independent (and easily distracted) young beaver who loves to explore the sounds of the forest she lives in.
An animated beaver answers common questions about beavers from kids and helps them learn important facts about our national animal.
Best of Beavers Overviews
Beaver Trust: Nature’s Ecosystem Engineers
Designed for educators, this video shows why beavers are considered nature’s ecosystem engineers and their importance in the landscape.
SciShow: Wild Facts You Never Knew About Beavers
This all-ages science show takes on fascinating facts about beavers, from their behaviour to castoreum and beyond.
Mike’s Videos of Beavers: Beavers Gotta Beave
A local beaver enthusiast videos the rodents in his community and shares the clips to the internet. This is a fun look at interesting beaver behaviours.
The Fur-Bearers: Wildlife Wednesdays on Beavers
Check out our Wildlife Wednesday shorts series, which has multiple episodes on beavers!
Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society: Beaver Cam
This wildlife rehabilitation centre doesn’t allow visitors, but does let animal lovers keep an eye on their beavers with web cams!
Best of Beaver Dams
BBC Earth: Busy Beavers Build Dam Ahead of Winter
Watch how beavers use nearby vegetation to build a dam and store food for winter in Yellowstone National Park.
TED-Ed: Why are beavers obsessed with dams?
With this lesson by Glynnis Hood, learn why beavers build dams, how they influence the surrounding ecosystem, and more with this animated educational video for all ages.
Wildlife of Beavers: Time-lapse of a beaver building a dam
This trail-cam footage shows a family of beavers build a dam in a single night. It’s very impressive!
Terra Mater: This Beaver Dam is so Huge, You Can See It From Space
A beaver family built a dam longer than 850m in Canada, twice as long as the Hoover Dam. Check out this great video on why that’s significant!
Best of Beavers Impact on Climate and Wildfires
Vox: Why beavers matter as the planet heats up
The online magazine takes on how beavers are going to play a major role in climate change mitigation and resilience in this overview.
Local Motives: Urban Beavers and Ecological Resilience
This video showcases the benefits beavers provide in Washington state and how local groups are helping communities coexist and mitigate concerns.
PBS Terra: Want to Solve Wildfires and Drought? Leave it to Beavers!
This short video looks at how beavers can play a major role in protecting landscapes from climate events, focusing in Central Oregon.
Emily Fairfax: Beavers and Wildfire, a Stop-Motion Story
This incredible stop-motion animation by Dr. Emily Fairfax is one of the best representations of how beavers impact wildfires.
Which beaver videos are your favourites? Are we missing a great one we should include in our list? Let us know by emailing [email protected] or commenting on our Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Bluesky channels.
