2 Beavers Grooming Each Other’s Fur

Awesome Beaver Footage! I think you should try to watch all of this amazing video from Saturday night. In the first half of the video, Nickel stops at the river’s edge to groom his or her fur. In the second half of the video, Nickel is joined by a second beaver, and they thoroughly groom each other’s fur. I don’t know if the second beaver is Nicky’s mate or a sibling, but they appear to be about the same age. Beavers groom to oil their fur several times a day to stay waterproof. Beavers will sit on their haunches and tails to access waterproofing oils through their cloacas. In addition, anal glands secrete oil through skin pores to hair roots. From there it is distributed with the front feet, teeth and grooming claws over the whole body to keep the fur sleek, oily, and water-repellent. 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”, and acts like a fine-toothed comb. Beavers frequently groom each other in what is called “social grooming” or “mutual grooming” to work oil into fur in places they can’t reach well themselves. #wildlifephotography #beavers #beaver