A beaver grooming is a regular site to see and as likely to be photographed as a beaver chewing or a beaver building a dam. Maybe more likely, since grooming happens on land and people are way more impressed at beavers on land and likely to snap a photo. Grooming isn’t about vanity, it’s urgent beaver business. Life or death self care. If it didn’t happen every day, especially in the colder places, the beaver couldn’t exist.
You’ll be happy to know that such an important job comes with the exact right tools for the job. The so-called grooming claw which is a split nail on their back foot that is perfect for fluffing up that fur. We were recently treated to an excellent grooming profile from the Winterberry Website,
Beavers Grooming and Specialized Split Claw
Beavers groom frequently, both in the lodge and on land, to remove debris from the coat and to waterproof it with oil from anal glands. When the animal emerges from the water to groom, it may start with its face and head, or with its belly. It begins by raking the fur with its fingernails, and then gets some difficult to reach spots with its hind feet. The two inner toes on each hind foot are modified for grooming. The innermost toe nail opens and closes over the toe, like a bird’s beak, and functions like a coarse toothed comb. The second toe has a “split nail” or “double nail”. The former term is more commonly used but the latter term is, perhaps, more accurate. It really is a double nail: It has a true nail and an additional horny growth between the true nail and the toe. The additional horny growth has a finely serrated upper edge which serves as a fine toothed comb.
Of course a beaver grooming is a camera ready moment, but two beavers grooming eachOTHER, well that just resets the whole scale for cuteness. She says beavers mostly do mutual groom in the lodge, but we know that’s not exactly true.
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