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What is a dam? |
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Beavers build dams from earth, rocks, and wood.
A beaver dam (#)
slows the water and makes it deeper for the beaver's home.
Beavers (#)
are like
engineers (*). They want to build
structures (*) that are
strong and will last.
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beaver dam photo courtesy of the
Department
of Environmental and
Natural Resources
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The beaver makes the dam bigger on the bottom than on the
top so that the dam is more stable (*).
Beaver (#) dams may be over 12
feet high and 600 feet long -- that's higher than a jungle gym and
as long as two football fields!
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| People build dams, too, for many different reasons. Like the beaver's
dam, our dams might be made of earth, rocks, and wood, or they might be made
of concrete. |
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Just like beaver dams, people dams stop up the water in
a river. A
lake fills up on one
side of the dam and leaves the other side of the dam almost dry. |
Why do people build dams?
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