Where are beavers in the food chain?

Beavers are primary consumers, pure herbivores that eat parts of hardwood trees including their leaves, bark and the softer tissue beneath the bark. They also consume all parts of aquatic plants in their environment. They are preyed upon by wolves, bears, wolverines, red foxes, lynx and otters.

Beavers have great effects on their environments beyond just their place in the food chain. The dams they create from parts of trees slow rivers and create aquatic environments that many species use. The still water behind a beaver dam can support very different species than running river water. The floods they cause can cover acres of land.