Beaver
Management in North Carolina
Feeding Habits
The most frequent misunderstanding about beavers is that many people think that beavers eat fish. Beavers are strict vegetarians adapted to a diet of the inner bark of woody plants and herbs.
They eat a wide variety of trees and shrubs including sweet gum, poplar, willow, birch, box elder, fir, pine, cedar, ironwood, privet and elderberry. Agricultural crops of corn and soybeans are also eaten and beavers may store cut sticks underwater for winter feeding. They show a particular preference for horticultural shrubs and tree farms, primarily due to the fertilizer applied to cultivated species.