BREEDING AND FAMILY LIFE TS 
look after the family. These wanderers sometimes stray 
far from home and even from water, for I have been told of 
one having been seen on a dry divide in the Yellowstone 
a long distance from the nearest water. ‘The purpose of this 
wandering is not quite clear. Perhaps in some cases it is 
to find a new location, in others just to get away to new 
scenes fora while. It isnot even clear whether the travelers 
ever return home, though they are supposed to do so. In 
the case of two-year old beavers they may be looking for 
mates, or pairs may be prospecting for homesteads. In 
this connection it may be mentioned that while the female 
beaver probably does not usually begin to breed before the 
age of two years, Bailey says that instances are known of 
single foetuses being found in year-old females. 
Like all animals, wild or domesticated, young beavers 
are playful. Their play, so far as I have myself observed, 
and [ think also others, is in the water, and seems to consist 
mostly of pushing and pulling one another about. Yearlings 
which I saw playing appeared to get their heads against one 
anothers’ shoulders and push until one went over. I have 
seen a youngster thus rolled completely over in the water. 
Probably there is but little play on land. They are too 
awkward in their movements there for this to be safe. 
Beavers are said to live from twelve to fifteen years. 
Mills had glimpses of a beaver he called ‘‘Flat-top” during a 
period of eighteen years, and thinks it was at least four 
years old when first seen, making its age at least twenty-two 
years. 
The trappers told Father DeSmet that those beavers 
which were lazy and unwilling to work were exiled from the 
colony, and forced to live apart at a distance in a state of 
starvation in the winter because they had not put up food. 
They were easily caught, but their fur was not as good as 
that of other beavers because of lack of food. This tale has 
been current with variations for many years. 
