Last night I watched the news about the cold snap hitting much of the country. All of Texas and parts of Louisiana and Mississippi are under a snow warning. Which has never happened. Many parts of the country are experiencing temperatures FIFTY degrees colder than usual. Stunning.
Which because I have a one track mind made me think about beavers.
That means of course that places where the stream never freezes will freeze and beavers that have never needed to cache their food will find themselves without a way to eat. And for how long? I mean places that are usually frozen in winter will be colder, I get it. And beavers can manage. But what about the places like Dallas and Santa Fe?
What happens to those beavers?
Let’s hope they either have lots of stored fat OR lots of rhisomes and roots to eat under the icein the meantime. And while we’re worrying about the beavers we should stop to worry about the humans too because that’s not anything they expected or signed on for. Frozen pipes and snowy roads are just not something you plan for in Corpus Christi.
For those beavers that can forage in the normal ways their are other obstacles to contend with. The Miistakis institute just launched a study to figure out the value of abraisive painting in keep a beaver from chewing trees.
I’m curious about what they will find, aren’t you?
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