If anyone in the world knows you like beavers besides us you have been sent this video in the past week or so. It’s from Newhouse wildlife rescue in Virginia. This video was taken down for a while because it was posted without permission. And the thing all of the world is “oohing” and “Awing” about is that the beaver appears to be building a dam across an open doorway.

Which is cute. I’ll grant you. But not what interested me because watching a beaver pick up shoes or newspapers to build a dam in rehab is no longer a surprise. Nor is posting rehab videos without permission. Because good lord when mother beaver went to Lindsay wildlife museum all those years ago that happened. What IS a surprise is what happens next. At 28 seconds in to be precise.

That’s hopping. This beaver hops. Do all beavers hop? In all the many hours I spent in their presence I never ever saw a beaver hop. What have I been missing? Are there secret hopping meetings that take place only when I am safely out of sight? I thought I’d ask Patti Smith who has spent many hours with beavers in the wild and in rehab and thankfully she agreed it was remarkable and said it was a surprise to her also.

So maybe all beavers don’t hop. But this beaver hops. Has he been sharing a cage with a bunny? Is he just extra special? Patti thought it might have something to with the slippery floor surface. But pretty much all beavers in rehab have walked on a similar floor.

Now as I watch this again I think maybe that beaver’s left paw isn’t feeling great – the one on the right side of the screen. She appears to be favoring it. Maybe more her ankle than her foot. Maybe hopping allows her to not use it and rely on the other front foot entirely. Maybe hopping is a kind of adaption that is easier on it than walking.

What do you think?

A reply from Mike Digout makes sense.

Mike’s photos and videos of beavers

Heidi. A couple of years ago I was filming a little beaver. She got scared by a cyclist. In the video (link attached) she does about 3 or 4 bunny hops as she crosses the sidewalk. I have seen younger beavers do this a few times when they are excited. I think it is just an unplanned, sudden or exuberant burst of speed.

ORPHAN BEAVER CLICK BAIT FROM BORED PANDA

heidi08 Beaver Rehabilitation, Beavers May 6, 2022

It is finally Friday on what has been one helluva week, so I’m sure the thing we all need right now is cute baby beaver pictures – by which I mean baby beaver pictures – because they are all dam cute. It’s not like some photos ended up in a pile on the cutting room floor with directors saying, well your nose was just tooo round, and your fur just didn’t look squeezable enough.

Bored Panda must have had a hard week too because they aired this post last with an outstanding collection, including one that happened quite close to home literally last week from our own Lindsay museum that actually did the right thing and sent a baby back to the lodge to be with his family!

30 Of The Cutest Beaver Pics The Internet Has To Offer

The North American beavers are nature’s hard-working architects. They have an innate ability to build structures that can rival even some ambitious human projects. These impressive skilled creatures also ended up becoming the main characters of a video game (it’s called Timberborn, if you want to look for it).

But this is not enough to explain what makes beavers so darn charming! With their big eyes and adorable teething, beavers are one of the cutest animals you could find out there. Known for building dams and lodges in rivers and lakes, they’re one of the six symbols of Canada. The trade of beaver fur used to be so profitable to the country that Canadians felt compelled to pay tribute to this buck-toothed animal. Canadians are not the only ones so obsessed with cute beavers. We are too, and that’s why we put together a collection of beaver pics that will build up your love for them, picture after picture!

Well I hate to argue with a known scholar like Bored Panda but in fact beavers of all ages have tiny beady eyes and that’s not what makes them so cute. See for yourself.

Luckily this little one had a saviour on a paddle board! When it was pulled from behind the rocks it had already been crying for three days, and had likely ventured out of the lodge after a few days of no parents returning. After almost a week alone, this baby was lucky to get into our centre. Beaver kits are born precocial with a fluffy coat and their eyes open. With both parents tending to the babies, they are never left alone and need constant attention in the unfortunate event they are alone without a family. This little one required extensive stabilization with rehydration every few hours, even through the night by our dedicated volunteers. Because we partner with other amazing wildlife centres across the province, we were able to get this little beaver into the best possible place it could grow up, (next to with its mom and dad of course). Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary has the largest beaver rehabilitation facilities in Canada, and another orphaned baby that needed a friend.
After two years in care they will be old enough to be released into vacant ponds to claim, and hopefully start little beaver families of their own. Beavers are essential to our aquatic ecosystems—they are wildlife engineers and the ponds they make create habitat for hundreds of other species. We thank Tracy and all our finders for caring for Ontarios wildlife, helping us keep Kawartha wild!

Obviously the parents weren’t returning because they were KILLED not because they went on a gambling trip over state lines. Sheesh when I think of how many adorable orphan beavers we make EVERY single year it gives this article a whole new vibe.

Just so you know, It’s the beaver in the box. I have boxes like that. I want to know why mine don’t have a baby beaver in them.

Please fix this error right away. And if you want to read about the beaver rescue from Lindsay museum click on the header to follow the article.

IN PATTI SMITH’S WORLD

heidi08 Beaver Book, Beaver Rehabilitation April 27, 2022

I want to live in naturalist Patti Smith’s world.

I don’t care if it’s as a person, a beaver, a possum or a slug. I just want to live in a world where she notices things and describes things and fixes things and makes them better. If that means moving to Vermont, fine. You probably want to come too.

The View from Heifer Hill: The perfect place to be a beaver

Pumpkin has always had important things to do. Beavers’ lives depend upon creating and maintaining the watery world that keeps them safe. Because he is an orphan, however, his work has been stymied. How does one deepen a metal tank? How can one harvest building materials on the other side of a fence? (more…)

BEAVER ORPHANS ARE MOVIE STARS BUT BEAVER FAMILIES CHANGE THE WORLD

heidi08 Beaver Rehabilitation December 9, 2021

The internets are buzzing with sweet footage of orphan beaver JB who sleeps with his blankie every night. Unfortunately about the time this video went viral JB died from a bacterial infection. But before he left us he sure cast a big impression on a lot of people.

I’ve never been entirely comfortable with these adorable orphan movies since as a society we seem dedicated to making so MANY of them – orphans I mean, not movies.It is my wish that places like “Second Chances Wildlife” would take every dollar they generate from beaver orphans and spend it on coexistence education to teach people who they should keep their families around in person.

Now this movie trailer released yesterday by the Beaver Trust is closer to what I have in mind.

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THE CUTEST THING AND THE BRAVEST THING

heidi08 Beaver Rehabilitation June 24, 2021

Get ready for an entire mountain of cute. Scratch that, an entire MOUNTAIN RANGE of cute. I have never seen wet kits before, so these little fellows have a lot to learn. Good thing they’re at Cornell.

Orphaned baby beavers crisscross New York state for treatment at Cornell

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Well? Well? Am I right? Are those the cutest dam things you ever saw in your adult life? Don’t bother looking for pictures of your children. I can tell you right now.

It is.

After their parents were trapped and killed at Lake George in the Adirondacks, these beavers were rescued and sent to licensed wildlife rehabilitators in Western New York. “They’re often seen as a pest, because they do change the landscape when they make their dams and alter water pathways,” said Sara Childs-Sanford, D.V.M. ’99, section chief of the Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital.

Their troubles didn’t end there, however. The kits, approximately three weeks old at the time, developed severe diarrhea and their health was declining, so they were transferred to Cornell for further care.

I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a veternary student with that little tailed patient staring you in the face every day.

Childs-Sanford and her team ran tests to determine the cause of their diarrhea and found they were suffering from bacterial enteritis due to Escherichia coli (E. coli). Unfortunately, two of the five kits died, but the three remaining beavers responded well to treatment. “We’re keeping them well hydrated and giving them lots of food and heat support, and they all are improving at this point,” Childs-Sanford said.

Two of the little peanuts died! I’m so glad the other three have each other to be with. Beavers are social animals.

Beaver kits require attentive care at this age. Swimming is key to their health, for example. It is when they do most of their hydration, defecation and urination. This litter enjoyed swim time three or four times a day in a constantly refreshing tub at the wildlife hospital. Childs-Sanford said the prognosis for this group of travelers is good.

After concluding treatment, the three healthy beavers, at approximately five weeks old, made the trip back to Western New York this month for rehabilitation and eventual release.

Yeah I wondered about the idea of them staying at Cornell for any length of time. It’s back to rehabber for the next two years.

I liked this. While you have their attention do some good!

Beavers are the largest rodent in North America, and have a transformative impact on their surrounding environment. Their dams alter waterways to slow-moving ponds that support a diverse wetland biological community. “There are places in the United States where groups are considering reintroducing beavers as one way to bring water back to areas that are in drought and to research how they affect the landscape in this way,” said Childs-Sanford.

It’s too bad they don’t give the name of the rehab where they are returning too, because I’m sure taking care of three kits for two years takes a lot of donations!

For the kits at Cornell, this means they cannot safely be released by their rehabilitators for at least another year and a half. “They have quite a long road of rehab ahead of them,” Childs-Sanford said.

Alright. You’ve seen the cutest dam thing ever. Get ready for the bravest fucking thing. This actually happened two Fridays ago. They told the Mr. Keene he needed to do a mic check rehearsal and he was such a narcissist that he never noticed the school wasn’t real, the award wasn’t real and the graduation never happened.

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