Beavers are North America’s largest rodent weighing up to a record 120 pounds! (Caught in Wisconsin) I have personally caught them weighing up to 65 pounds here in Iowa.
Beaver damage is usually easy to see and detect because they cause such wide spread damage. Cut stumps of trees, peeled sticks and limbs, the dam and or lodge. In Iowa we usually have have bank dens and not the typical hut in th emiddleof the pond that is so familair. A bank den is usually identified by a pile of cut and maybe peeled sticks piled up on the bank above the den. The entrance may nowt be visible due to water depth.
Beavers can be extremely destructive animals. I have seen beaver take out over 1/2 acre of corn in one farmers field. I have also seen beavers put up a 4 foot high by 12 foot wide dam in under 3 nights. They can also lay waste to a grove of willows or aspens in a just a few days.
Beaver can also carry Giardias a parasitic disease usually contracted from drinking contaminated water.