Beaver Telephone

Russia: Beaver dam causes road to cave in

Engineers in the Sverdlovsk region first thought a pipe under the road had collapsed, washing it away, Moscow’s NTV television reported. But during the repair work, it soon became clear the culprits were beavers who had blocked the pipe while building a dam. The weight of water trying to get through the pipe apparently caused the road to collapse, opening up a 4m (13 ft) pit in the middle of the route.

One expert tells the ITAR-TASS news agency the disruption was probably caused by younger beavers. “Young individuals build dams and settle in new places,” biologist Pavel Kosintsev says. “There’s only one way to protect communications from these animals – put iron bars over the pipes.”

Huh?

Do you ever get the feeling that we are playing an elaborate game of telephone, where we whisper a solution in someone’s ear and by the time it reaches the end of the line the message is ridiculous? Like the statement started as “beaver deceivers protect culverts” and ended up as “install bars to keep beavers from communicating with each other”.

beavers behind bars — Beavers Behind Bars – HP

Well, the communication problem must also have happened with the “beaver” photo the BBC ran with the article, because the beaver photo I’m certain is an otter (and Megan of the River Otter Ecology center confirms it). It’s a lovely photo, with a beautiful reflection, just not of the right species. And the reflection means its wrong TWICE. They bought it from Getty images, so many more people should be making that mistake soon.

Now for the cream. Fun news this morning from our beaver friend Willy de Koning in the Netherlands. Turn your sound up and get ready for a treat! I especially love the “reach”, which was amongst the funnest days I ever spent watching our beavers in Martinez.

Thanks Willy for an enjoyable reminder that beavers should make us all happy! She recently published a book on her adventures called ‘Avonden aan de waterkant;’ (Evenings at the waterside).