I would guess a 2 foot in diameter cottonwood was the largest I have seen.

How about you ??

real big,

Seen an oak that they spent a couple weeks chewing down that was about 4 feet through don’t ask me why the were cutting down N oak when there were plenty of willows and aspen in the area it they did

2-3 foot cottonwood. I never measured then but would say over 2 feet across easily. The one I remember mostly it took them many month's before it came down.

Cottonwood, at least 2 men to get hands around

Here is a cottonwood beaver started on. I am not sure if it was the biggest I ever seen them work on, but I had a picture of it. There was a coon den in the tree too. If I would have left the dog, he may have finished chewing the tree down to get the coon out.

My son and I couldn’t hold hands around one of them .....it was a bigg’n

I haven't seen any monstrous trees gnawed, but have seen a few that were maybe a couple feet across. MJM, that one in your photo would be a part of my house if I could get the ok to cut it. It would make a really cool table base for a trapper!

MJM - Super beaver!

MJM - Small beav - or task of falling tree is planted in its "small brain"?

Girldeled trees is what i despise most about beaver!

4-1/2 ft Cottonwood, took most of a year before a storm toppled it.

I have seen them cut a four ft. through Cottenwood in just a few nights. One fell into another and just stood there useless to the beaver. They just start on another. Willow and Cottenwood are probably the biggest food sources of beaver here. They don't seem to prefer hardwood trees but will cut them. I have seen them girdle 3 foot oaks.

Impressive !!!

Hello Mark !!!

Nothing as huge as the one above by On a Call in Ohio, but I documented beaver damage in a nearby apple orchard in 2012. These older trees were next to a stream where a dam was being built. Those chewed on and dropped ranged between 18 and 24 inches in diameter. The limbs were chewed off and hauled to the dam, leaving stumps.

Jonathan

I didn't measure them but there were two cottonwoods in Montana and many large cottonwoods along the Ohio river felled by beavers that were gigantic. Some Ohio river islands have felled cottonwoods of impressive size. I could not tell that the beavers made any use of the trees once they were cut. I think beavers have an instinct to cut down large trees to let sunlight in and grow thickets of tasty saplings. I know they have to gnaw on something, but the beavers definitely targeted those trees and ignored many others they could have whetted their teeth on.