The differences between beavers and woodchucks are vast, but most people know them by their similarities. You might at first glance think that the two are similar, but if you look closer there is actually a world of difference between them.
Both pests in the garden or backyard; they ruin it with teeth for all-you-can do clean up! But while one may chew through your lawn to get at tasty tree roots – another will simply cut down trees until there’s nothing left except sawdust (and plenty more).
Woodchucks and beavers and both belong to Order Rodentia, but they have a few key differences. Beavers are aquatic while their land-dwelling counterparts are known as “woodchucks.”
Beaver Vs. Woodchuck
While both are mammals, they differ in their type. Whereas Beaver is an animal that lives underwater and Woodchuck’s diet consists mostly of plants. Beavers are the genus of a mammal, while woodchucks make up their own species. In comparison to the woodchuck, beavers are larger and more popular. Beavers are usually larger than chucks and their swimming ability is enhanced by the size of their bodies.
Comparison Table Between Beavers and Woodchucks
| Parameters of Comparison | Beavers | Woodchucks |
| Place of Origin | The two different species of beavers are different. One of them is more common in Europe and parts of Asia and the other one is found mainly in North America. | Woodchucks are only found in North America, and aren’t found elsewhere. |
| Weight | Beavers are larger and weigh more than woodchucks. An adult beaver weighs over 100 kilograms, and it’s about 25 kilograms for an adult woodchuck. | Woodchucks are not that heavy as beavers. They weigh about 2 kilograms, and an adult is about four. |
| Family | The Castoridae | The Sciuridae |
| Time of activity | Nocturnal animals are active during the night. Beavers are active during the night. | A woodchuck is a diurnal animal. They pursue their activities all day and sleep during the night. |
| Eating habits | Beavers are herbivorous. green leaves and roots are what they eat. | Sometimes woodchucks are insectivores as well. Sometimes they can eat insects, but mostly they consume greens. |
What is a Beaver?
Beavers are rodents of the Order Rodentia and are most common in North America and Eurasia. There are two subspecies of beavers: the Castor beaver (Castor canadensis) and the American beaver (Castor fiber). They are interesting animals. Beaver is nocturnal. They build their homes at night. Most of them are born architects. They can build beautiful canals and dams.
Beaver’s have webbed feet, and their skin has scales like a lizard. They also have teeth that look like those of a rodent. Their skin allows them to cut through wood, making them excellent lumbermen. Beavers are known to use their tails as an alarm when they sense danger. They slap their tails against the ground when they’re in a dangerous situation.
Beaver is unique. As they grow older, they develop more body weight. Ultimately they weigh about 25 kg with age. And they live longer.
What is a Woodchuck?
The woodchuck is also called the groundhog because it hibernates during the winter months and wakes up after the winter. It’s called the woodchuck because it’s in the
same order as a beaver, but it’s in a different family. But it’s also related to a squirrel.
Woodchucks mainly live in Alaska and the Great White North- Canada but are also found in the Northern and North-Eastern parts of the United States. Woodchucks are funny creatures who dig their own burrows. Mostly, they eat plants, but can also gnaw on trees and build huge mounds to protect themselves from being buried by snow. They are also known to cause structural damages to buildings for the hole dug by them.
Woodchucks are omnivorous, having an appetite for both plants and animals. They are active during the warmer months, choosing to hibernate through the harsh winters. They have secret hairs that keep them warm. Their lifeline could be longer if they weren’t preyed on by many species of predators.
We’ve noticed that when a woodchuck is isolated from predators, it will live longer for almost six to seven years.
Difference Between Woodchucks and Beavers
Although both beavers and Woodchucks look alike, they have different characteristics. Beavers are stout, have flat tails and yellow teeth for they are aquatic animals. Woodchucks have bushy tails and white incisors as they are land animals.
Although they have similar feet, the feet of these 2 animals differ in many ways. The beavers are very lucky. They have webbed feet which help them in their swimming. They don’t have any claw-like features on their feet. A woodchuck’s webbed feet make it unique. Their claws are their weapon for digging and they gnaw with their sharp teeth.
A woodchuck moves away from its family as it gets older. This is why woodchucks tend to stay solitary. A beaver stays with the same group of family members because they want to mate all the time.
Some animals dig holes and burrows, such as woodchucks, and some build dams, such as beavers.
Woodchucks are land mammals. They prefer to live near water, but don’t like to be near a river. You can see them living near ponds and streams, but don’t let a beaver cross the road! Beavers live near rivers or water bodies. You can often see them in those areas.
Beavers are extremely destructive animals. Beavers destroy trees and woodlands by gnawing on them, tearing down wood structures, and damming rivers. Beaver dams disrupt the flow of rivers and make swimming unsafe, but they also help to regulate local water supplies. Woodchucks dig holes through gardens and porches, and they eat plants and root vegetables.
Beaver lives for a very long time, up to 25 years, as compared to woodchucks, which are only about two to three years old. Beavers are the longest-lived of all the rodents!
Conclusion
They’re both rodents of the same order, but they’re different in many ways. One prefers water and lives near water, while the other is land-loving and lives on land. Woodchucks also differ from squirrels in that their bodies have four limbs instead of two.
The two animals are similar in many ways but they differ from each other in appearance and their methods of capturing prey. People get confused between them and mistake them for each other but in reality, they are quite different from each other.