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Last night we saw two beautiful things that lightened our hearts a great deal: Dad and 3. We wondered where Dad has been and wondered if Sarah’s comments about grieving at the loss of the mate were accurate. How could it be true? Weren’t we just talking about rodents? Would they really notice if a mate had died? But we didn’t see dad for three days after mom’s death. And when he appeared yesterday he looked a little looser in the skin, a little older. We know exactly how he feels. He went straight for a nice cottonwood branch and snagged it to bring into the lodge, where he stayed while the bi-yearling went for his alone time. We were so relieved to have him back and playing for the home team.

Later we saw the three kits together for the first time since Father’s day. There had been a very narrow otter event last week, meriting tail slaps from two adult beavers and some chasing. We feared the worst but were doing our bests to stay positive and remember that just because you ‘have’ three doesn’t mean you see them all at the same time. This is horrible footage and very blurry but you can see we definitely have our ‘tripod’ of beaver kits. We were very happy to see the family of five last night.

We had nice articles in the CCTimes and the Gazette, as well as reports on KCRA, channel 11 and channel 7 via Bay City News. There has been a fairly steady stream of condolences from people moved by her death, and a host of visitor’s down at the dam. One of our most touching responses was the donation of five dollars from a child’s allowance in the South Bay. We are working to incorporate a memorial to mom into the tshirt design for this year and talking with the metal worker who did the lovely beaver at the library about adding a memorial to the sheetpile wall. I am grateful that we have come this far, and that the family seems to be in good shape, but every part of me is exhausted by feeling and it has been a rough week. Let’s hope the next ones are lighter and brighter.

We are definitely learning about the unique personalities of our three new beavers. (It is of course possible that they all act every way at different times), but, subject to some frequent revisions, we are beginning to spot some patterns.

One is tenacious in his/her pursuit of delicious treats, especially if mom is eating it. The Veruca Salt of beavers, he/she is more likely to snatch the food from mom’s paws that to go find their own. Mom completely ignores these demands and turns her back or stands up to get her breakfast out of reach. She parents these demands without any sentimentality whatsoever, but also without aggression. We kept expecting a big blowup after the millionth attempt to steal her food, but it never came. When junior’s on the warpath she will just go to another place to eat, although she never goes over the dam, where they aren’t allowed yet.

There’s definitely a smaller, more snuggly kit, who sometimes just wants to be close to mom or to nuzzle. That kit seem to enjoy “the company of beavers” and wants to be near the others no matter what they’re doing. This is the adorable star of the footage I shot on June 13th, hitching a ride on mom’s back. She parents this kit with gentleness and nurturing and will stay near while she eats or grooms. Get your cameras out when this kit approaches because it encourages adorable behavior in everyone.

Photo: FROgard Butler

I am less familiar with our third hero, but I believe this is the adventuresome “national geographic” explorer who climbs bravely out of the water onto the dam in search of food. The kit is never worried by being alone, and not after mom’s food either. S/he has places to go, things to see, crannies to overturn. This kit swam the course of the pond underwater with narry a glitch, quite an accomplishment for a 5-6 week old floating cork. S/he takes spectacular risks, and runs back to the lodge in terror when they go spectacularly wrong. Which they do regularly. His or her tumble is featured in the June 17th footage.

It is tempting to ascribe gender traits to these beavers, and say the sweet one is a girl or the brave one is a boy, but I am purposely avoiding it. Beavers are monomorphs that have no external sex characteristics whatsoever. The matriarchal structure of beaver life means that females need to be just as competent and just as skilled as their male counterparts. They disperse for greater distances and do equal ‘heavy lifting’. Several times in her careful chronicle famous beaver writer Hope Ryden ascribed gender to her subjects only to be proven wrong when visible teats were seen during nursing season. These kits won’t be here when they raise their own familes, so we will likely never know the gender of these beavers.

And that’s just fine with me. I think Brat, Baby and Explorer will serve excellently as gender ambiguous heroes.