I must be getting easier to please because this whimsical article from National Geographic mostly satisfies me. Asde from the silly headline and a few wise cracks, its mostly accurate. I especially like the part when they say that beavers have a special grooming PAW on their back foot.. heh heh heh A Five footed beaver?
Beavers Have Vanilla-Scented Butts And More Odd Facts
“Beavers can change the landscape like almost no species other than humans,” says Glynnis Hood, wildlife ecologist at the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus and author of The Beaver Manifesto.
The famously busy mammals build elaborate homes, which are called lodges when they are in open water and very visible, says Jimmy Taylor, research wildlife biologist with USDA’s National Wildlife Research Centre and Oregon State University.
They’ll also literally dam rivers. The largest beaver dam ever found was a half-mile long in Alberta’s Wood Buffalo Park—quite a feat for 27-kilogram animals. Hood and colleagues have also found that open water increases ninefold in areas where beavers were present.
Beaver activity can be good for the environment—increasing open water can lessen drought and also widen wetlands—in some cases by nearly 600 percent.
No kidding! Beavers are actually good for the environment? Get out!
It may be surprising to some, but “not all beavers build dams,” says Taylor. Beavers can live wherever there is persistent water, but sometimes their native river is too big to dam.
But they’re fine as long as they have an area to build their lodge, like a riverbank, food, access to mates, and water that allows them to escape from predators—the reason they build dams in the first place.
These family-loving animals were thought to be monogamous, but a 2009 genetic study of two populations in Illinois suggests the species “may be opportunistically promiscuous.”
“The pair bond is still there, but that male is sharing his genes with other females as well,” Taylor says, so they’re “socially monogamous but sexually polygamous.”
Sounds like something you’d hear in “divorce court,” he quips. Family bonds are strong, though, and male and female beavers will fight unrelated beavers to the death over territory.
Beavers are tramps! Who knew? At least you took the time to go and talk to the experts like Glynnis and Jimmy. Next time call ME and I’ll tell you the truth about that ‘special paw’ beavers have. Bwahahaha,,,,
Their tails don’t need maintenance, but their fur is another story. In doing so, the mammals keep air spaces in their warm undercoat and distribute their outer fur with castoreum oil, which they produce to scent mark and waterproof themselves.
“They have a special grooming paw on their hind foot, like a little split toenail,” Hood says, and they “spend almost 20 percent of their time grooming” themselves and each other.
Ohhh I wish I was at the PC because I would deadly LOVE to make a graphic of a beaver with a special grooming PAW that comes out of his back foot….Maybe one of you with photo shop talents can fill in for me for now.
Still, we have to give Liz Langley a B- for an article that is mostly accurate. The video isn’t bad either. Enjoy!
