Beavers use the bark of trees for food, and they use logs and branches for the construction of their dams and lodges.
In their necessarily extensive tree-felling operations, they have gained the reputation of cutting trees so that they always fall toward the water, thus saving the supposedly intelligent beavers considerable effort in hauling the logs.
Actually, most of the trees along the bank of a stream or lake have a tendency to lean toward the water and will fall toward the water no matter what the Beavers’ desires are in the matter. But trees growing some distance from the water are straighter and when cut down by beavers will fall in any direction.