A sleek steady beaver swims close enough to eye the people on the shore, does some brief nuzzling of a kit. gives a beaver-back ride or brings a branch, and slowly makes his or her way over the dam for some alone time. Most nights we lose sight of the two year old somewhere around the first scrape, where sneaky swimming becomes their habit. We believe they may be scent marking near the damlet, but we can’t know for sure. I have no idea what happens if a passing beaver takes him/her up on their offer. Will they move in or move on?
We know the rule is one breeding pair per colony. So we assume dad is also leaving scent marks for potentials. If the two year old gets lucky first, evolution would argue that dad would ‘retire’, although I have never read about that happening. At least two beaver experts have mentioned the possibility that Dad might breed with the two year old, if its a female, but that’s a lot to wrap our heads around. Go read Hope Ryden’s Lily pond which has a long account about why it isn’t a genetic problem if you’re interested. Sharon Brown of BWW described a widowed father beaver that was rebuffed by a yearling with an ‘I don’t think so’ and eventually found another partner. I think if the two year old is clearly working on attracting a mate, its a pretty good indication that its a boy, and that complicated issue won’t even come up.
Cheryl took this photo on Friday night. We have taken to calling the two year-old GQ (even though we can’t know the gender) because it is always so meticulously groomed and so much sleeker than Dad. GQ is not the most gentle of parents. He’s a little gruff with the kits and awkward at times. The other night he gave one of the kits such a scolding for going over the dam that no one has dared approach it for days. When you think about it, the two year-old hasn’t been around children before. Our last yearlings had new kits in the lodge with them when they were just a year old. But since our 2009 kits died he never got practice being with youngsters until now. It’s fun to watch him learn.
Photo: Cheryl Reynolds
This is clearly the “Gloria Swanson Moment” for beavers….
