With yesterday’s exciting turtle discovery, there is a renewed interest in our beavers as a keystone species. Sliders are not rare, and are in fact mostly descended from pet releases. Still, their complete acceptance of the habitat is a very good sign that our beaver dam has done good things for the creek. We encourage you to help us keep an eye for new and returning species to the area so that we can document their effect. In the meantime, you might enjoy these tidbits tracked down by our wildlife VP Cheryl Reynolds.
Beaver Video Game? Apparently! RealArcade just released “Dam Beavers” in which you help Quax the duck battle beavers by breaking down their dams so that he can continue swimming. Or something.
Like most ducks, Quax loves swimming. But today an unruly gang of beaver baddies insist on building their dams upstream, reducing his favorite swimming pond to a mere puddle. Determined to swim again, Quax has constructed a dam-busting catapult to smash the beaver dams and restore his peaceful pond, but he needs players’ word-building skills to help him battle the beavers. Players will click letters to form words and give Quax the ammo he needs to demolish the dams. Featuring stunning artwork, hilarious characters, unique power-ups, and more, “Dam Beavers” is a blast of word game fun for the whole family.
Never mind that we have more ducks IN our beaver pond than OUTSIDE it. But hey, its a game, You can download a free trial version if you go here
Next comes this delightful letter to the editor by Greg Brown Meaford printed in the Chicago Sun Times:
In response to the news item “Bevy of bothersome beavers,” a colony of beavers in Southgate has proposed a bounty be placed on humans. At their monthly nocturnal meeting the pond manager, citing the destructive nature of humans in damning rivers, flooding vast tracts of land, disregard for other species and uncontrolled population growth, stated “Something has to be done.” In a unanimous slap of the tails the suggestion was approved. The next step will be to contact other beaver colonies seeking their support.
Greg, any time you want a Martinez vacation, I know a lot of people who would buy you a beer!
And finally my favorite find, “Beavers Don’t Make Good Pets” from Audrey Tourney of Ontario, Canada who writes about raising beavers in one’s living room. Yes you read that right. Her loving and practical account of life with a beaver resident was a delight to read.
First of all, beavers defecate in the water: That means, unless you can manage a pool in your kitchen, that at least twice a day you will have to put enough water in the bath tub so that he can swim and dive and defecate. Then, of course, you will have to clean the tub thoroughly. His idea of what is tidy will not necessary be the same as yours. Boots, rugs, pillows, even chairs, can be rearranged at his will. When a door closes behind him and he doesn’t want it closed, he simply eats through it. A wooden door takes about 20 minutes.
Oh and the part about the piano and the last book chapter….well go read it yourself, you won’t regret it. If nothing else it makes all of us beaver fans seem relatively conservative by comparison. Thanks Cheryl for the beaver Miscellany! You can always send beaver sightings and ideas our way. (But please don’t send that story of the beavers building the dam without the permit because if one more person mails that my way I’m going to start charging admission.)
Caption: “Tasiq busily rearranges Audrey Tournay’s livingroom to suit his needs.” Kinda reminds me of this…
