Overgrown Beaver Teeth

Beavers are the most giant rodents on the planet. They can grow up to 50 pounds (ca. 23 kg)! But that is not even the most interesting fact about them. The coolest thing about these cute rodents has to be the fact that their teeth never stop growing.

Yes, beavers possess ever-growing teeth. They have iron in their teeth enamel, which makes their teeth extremely strong and also very sharp. Not to mention the fact that they constantly keep growing, which is both a bane and boon for them.

Overgrown beaver teeth are quite common among these animals. This helps them to gnaw at wood constantly. There surely are lots of other things to know about their extra special teeth!

Have you ever thought what’s the purpose of beaver’s teeth that keeps growing? We can actually dub their teeth a double-edged sword. If the animals fail to maintain their teeth properly, they might get into serious trouble.

Beavers eat wood and also use it to make dams and lodges. Since they have to and are accustomed to constantly gnawing at wood, they need a strong tooth. Not only that, their constant gnawing causes their teeth to get shortened.

This is where their teeth’ ever-growing feature comes into their use. Since they keep growing, gnawing at wood doesn’t make their teeth go too short. This might help understand more about beaver teeth: Why Do Beavers Have Orange Teeth? Are they Metallic?:

But if there rises any issue for which a particular beaver can’t gnaw or chew as constantly as they should on wood, their teeth might grow into their skull and seriously injure them. Later on, because of this, they can get infections or lack of enough food might even cause their death.

Pros And Cons Of Beaver’s Teeth

It can be said that there’s a lot to know about beaver teeth. You can ask how do beaver teeth grow. And what are the benefits of these special teeth?

Let’s learn some pros and cons about beaver teeth that will help you understand the importance of these teeth better.

Pros

Chewing wood doesn’t shorten teeth beyond normal.
Beaver can get proper wood for food.

Collecting branches and other things for making dams and lodges is easy.
Their teeth protrude out of their mouth, which helps them chew wood underwater

Cons

If beavers don’t chew wood at a considerable amount, their teeth length would be too long

If the teeth grow too long, then they may reach their brain, and cause the beaver to die.

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So you can say that regardless of their demerits, this unique feature of incisor lifelong growth is important for beavers. Now, let’s find out why do beavers teeth keep growing and some more characteristics of these teeth.

How Fast Do Beaver Teeth Grow

If you are someone who has had the chance to observe these animals, then you might have noticed that they are always chewing. Beavers can hardly stop themselves from chewing on random objects, especially wooden ones.

This is because they make sure that their teeth don’t overgrow their mouth space. Then again, you can say that their habit or likeliness to gnawing on wood is what keeps their lifelong growing teeth in the right length.

Beaver’s teeth have been reported to grow around 3 to 4 feet (1.22 m) in a year! So it is really important for them to keep their teeth in the correct size!

So if you ever thought do beavers teeth keep growing, the answer is yes, and it’s critical that they keep growing.

Well, all rodents are cute however. Have you ever wondered about guinea pigs as pets? This may help you get to know them Are Guinea Pigs Hard to Take Care of? | Learn the Proper Caring Method

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why do beavers teeth never stop growing?

Unlike us humans, rodent teeth never stop growing. As it’s essential for the survival of beavers to have ever-growing teeth, nature provided them with it. Due to the special formation of enamel and iron which makes their teeth very strong and acid-resistant, their teeth never stop growing.

2. Why are beaver teeth so strong?

Beaver’s teeth have a strong enamel layer in front of iron in it. Hence, their teeth are orange and very strong. It helps them gnaw at hardwood.

3. Why are beaver teeth so sharp?

Although beaver’s teeth have a strong coating of enamel in the front, there’s the dentine layer in the backside of their teeth or 4 incisors. As a result, the backside of their teeth wears away faster than the front side. This gives the incisors an edged and sharp shape.

Final Note

Aren’t the beavers fascinating? Starting from their humongous size to overgrown beaver teeth, these animals are full of unique features. Some people also keep them as pets due to the fact that they are also very adorable.

Beavers are wild animals and have been provided with important physical features needed for survival by nature itself. We should appreciate their uniqueness and help their decreasing number to grow.