Why aren't beaver exhibits as widespread as otter exhibits?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
There don't seem to be many beaver exhibits in the zoo world, and conversely there don't seem to be many zoos without an otter exhibit.

Beavers are active and charismatic animals. They seem to have the same general ecological requirements as otters (e.g., a large body of water and some land area).

Is it odd that there aren't more beaver exhibits in zoos?

Do they have more intense husbandry needs than otters do in terms of needing to provide them with gnawing and cutting opportunities that make them hard to exhibit?
 
I think the two key points are:

1. The require a part aquatic environment which is always more expensive to prepare and maintain than most enclosures not needing water;

2. They're not very showy. In about a dozen and a half visits to zoos which keep them I've only had two decent viewing experiences.

Given these points I think it's only natural that a zoo would choose otters over beavers (far showier) as the public want to see animals not empty enclosures.

Personally I'd like to see more Copyu on display -they're like watery Coatis -always active (great display).
 
My zoo had a beaver for quite a while, over several years I only saw the thing once. And that was when a keeper forced it out of its house and made it swim around.

Going along with my observations of the wild beavers around here, my findings are congruent with the observations at the zoo.

Simply put, beavers are lazy beasts that hide all day (at least in my area)

That, I think, is why I think they are less popular.
 
Beavers are mostly nocturnal. Unless the public has an oportunity to view their sleeping dens, they have zero attractivity.

Zoo Brno acquaired north american beavers in a hope they would be less nocturnal then their european cousins. I´ve seen them outside a few times, but they still spend most of the visitors hours sleeping.
 
There are also more species of otter available. The Chestnut Centre in the UK holds four - Oriental small-clawed, European, North American and Giant.

Alan
 
Charismatic, yes. But are they really that active? Granted, I haven't been to that many zoos with beavers - but the three where I have been don't/didn't have the best visitor experience. In Dierenpark Planckendael, I didn't manage to see them at all. In Skærup Zoo, I saw them sleeping in their den thanks to a viewing window. In Aqua Ferskvandsakvarium, where I have been several times, they also have a viewing window to the den, where they have been sleeping all but one time. One time, one of them were rummaging a bit in the den, and one went outside for like 15 seconds, but soon they were asleep again.
 
They have American beavers at the Orange County Zoo, I go there quite often and I dont really see the beavers, in fact once the beavers die off, they want to convert that enclosure into a Jaguar exhibit (Like Reid Park is converting there Polar bear exhibit into Grizzly bear exhibit). Los Angeles Zoo also used to have beavers but there exhibit last held Chinese alligators, but that exhibit is now gone because of LAIR
 
The only place I've ever consistently seen beavers was London, which kept a breeding pair of the North American species in a pool that was pitifully small. Having said that, the animals did consistently breed there .
 
Thanks for the input everybody.

It sounds like I have been lucky to see active beavers at the Orange County Zoo and Arizona-Desert Museum. Sleepy beavers = not spectacular exhibits I imagine, which would explain why they are greatly eclipsed by otter exhibits.
 
My experience with beavers in zoos is usually a brown ball of fur hiding in a den or nest box, the exception to this is when I have happened to be looking in a beaver exhibit in the evening towards zoo closing. This has been the time of day I've seen active beavers at both ASDM and Northwest Trek.
 
Unless they are in a nocturnal exhibit they would just sleep all day. I would think you would also have to provide sticks or some sort of enrichment that is similar since they spend their nights building dams.
 
Growing up, for me the beavers at Chester Zoo were infamously invisible. I think I have only actually seen beavers twice, most active and visible was towards the late afternoon at the Oregon Zoo.
 
I think Elephante is actually on to something, perhaps beavers can be integrated into a nocturnal house at some zoo, and because they are nocturnal, guests could really get a chance to see what great creatures they are
 
For active beavers, visitors should go to Smithsonian National Zoo. I think it helps they have a feeding at 1:15 PM every day in a corner of the exhibit right by visitors. Beavers are only a few feet away from you and they usually stand on your hind legs to get their food or to see if you have any.
 
I also want to note a disadvantage with having beavers is if there are trees in the exhibit. They will have the instinct to always want to chew them down. The Smithsonian Zoo has mesh around the bases of their trees, but it doesn't prevent their beavers from still trying!
 
ungulate nerd said:
I think Elephante is actually on to something, perhaps beavers can be integrated into a nocturnal house at some zoo, and because they are nocturnal, guests could really get a chance to see what great creatures they are
Click to expand...

The Omaha Zoo has them in their nocturnal house (or at least used to).
 
Why aren't beaver...

Nice thing about beavers is you can keep waterfowl with them. The old Norfolk wildlife Park had an observation den for its beavers, which worked very well.
Do London Zoo no longer have beavers? They really don't have much these days, do they? [Expects a torrent of abuse]
 
Otters can be found in 52 of the top 60 American zoos (going by the 2008 book America's Best Zoos) while beavers are far less popular and are in fact quite a rarity in zoos. Their ability to remain static for hours in their tiny dens is not exactly a crowd-pleasing trick, while otters are active, energetic mammals that are enormously popular. Even seeing beavers up close and personal has been a disappointment for me on numerous occasions, as they are generally lumps of brown fur in a darkened environment. However, two highlights would be seeing them actively moving around in the dark in the world's largest nocturnal house (Kingdoms of the Night at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo) and a mother beaver with a number of kits at the Pittsburgh Zoo back in 2008. The mom would constantly shift the babies around the pool using her mouth and it was rather amusing!

There are many great beaver exhibits in American zoos (Oregon, Northwest Trek, ASDM, Minnesota, Lincoln Park, etc) but perhaps the best is to be found at Cleveland Zoo. There the beavers and wolves share the same space but the water level is slightly too low for the wolves to grab a quick furry lunch.

http://www.zoochat.com/557/northern-trek-wolf-wilderness-wolf-beaver-174186/

Jackson Zoo in Mississippi has pop-up bubbles in its beaver exhibit:

http://www.zoochat.com/1136/mississippi-wilderness-beaver-exhibit-288808/
 
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FBBird said:
Nice thing about beavers is you can keep waterfowl with them. The old Norfolk wildlife Park had an observation den for its beavers, which worked very well.
Do London Zoo no longer have beavers? They really don't have much these days, do they? [Expects a torrent of abuse]
Click to expand...

No beavers at London Zoo. There is an enclosure between the Clore and Cotton Terraces which has a plaque noting, if I remember correctly, that there were two black beavers given to the Queen by the Hudson's Bay Company. There is a sign saying that the enclosure is temporarilly empty but I can't remember the last time anything lived there.
 
Shorts said:
I think the two key points are:

1. The require a part aquatic environment which is always more expensive to prepare and maintain than most enclosures not needing water;
Click to expand...

Otters also require a part aquatic environment.

Shorts said:
2. They're not very showy. In about a dozen and a half visits to zoos which keep them I've only had two decent viewing experiences.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I went to the Highland Wildlife Park for the first time in 2006 and saw a beaver. I have been back 9 times since then and have never seen one again!
 
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