Self-grooming and social grooming in the North American beaver, Castor canadensis

Abstract

Grooming behavior was observed throughout several years in a number of free-living beavers (Castor canadensis) with special emphasis on behavior occurring within lodges. Quantitative analyses of data obtained from the beaver family most observed suggest the following. (i) Compared with what is commonly found in standard terrestrial rodents, self-grooming in beavers is more specialized toward maintenance of an insulating air layer between hair and skin, and less specialized toward removal of foreign bodies from the hair or skin. (ii) The major role of social grooming is to allow maintenance of the air layer at those places of the body which cannot be taken care of by appropriate self-grooming patterns. Its role in the maintenance or promotion of social bonds, or as an appeasement gesture is probably minimal.