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.
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.
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.
