I merely wished to note my observations of this summer (across 4 beaver colonies) regarding the tail slapping behaviour in beaver kits (beavers born this year).
When the kits began emerging from the den (I first spotted them in the end of July), upon becoming aware of my presence, they always slipped off quietly and they never slapped their tails.
Generally, I have noticed that smaller beavers (kits, yearlings) tend to rely on elusive submergence rather than on tail slapping which can probably attract attention posing risk to a smaller-sized beaver.
However, I remember having read that young beavers (including kits) also slap tails to warn their families.
It was not stated at what age this had been observed (and I cannot remember where I read it but it was within a scientific context).
It had been stated that adult beavers are less likely to react to warnings issued by young beavers than to warnings issued by other adults (possibly due to erroneous signaling aka ‘false alarms’ in younger, inexperienced, easily-excited and easily-spooked animals).
I got to observe beaver kits several times in August and not once they slapped their tails.
They were not spooked at easily as I just claimed, either.
Sometimes they floated near the opposite shore attempting to ‘investigate us’ (me and my dog) from a relatively safe distance.
During September, I did not observe beaver kits at all.
In fact, there appeared to be a shift in the families’ routines during this month (but there was also a shift in mine and, as a result, I could not observe beavers as often).
After August two of the colonies began centering their activities around other focal location.
It is possible that the third colony slightly relocated, as well, but their home territory is rather cramped between areas of heavy human use and I believe that their choice in activity hotspots is more limited (they might have moved a bit upstream but only by metres).
I wonder if this was coincidental or if beaver families changed their typical foraging spots now that the kits were not as bound to the den site.
Today it is the 1st October.
For the past half-week I have, once again, spotted beaver kits several times.
During these observations, the kits slapped their tails in all instances and, personally, it felt as if they were showing off their tail slapping because every kit that I saw, slapped its tail (while not every adult I saw did).
It was as if they were bursting with a newfound confidence or a newfound sense of duty toward their family, and so they were very eager to engage in this activity of a colony-importance.
The contrast was very striking (as I had missed out on their development almost during a whole month) and I thought I should write it down because it seems that in these colonies beaver kits avoid drawing attention during the initial month(s?) after emergence from the den but then they acquire the signalling behaviour and apply it actively later in autumn.
Notes by Ieva 