Waterfront property, underwater entrance and tasty logs included
April 8, 2015 2:45 PM Subscribe
Beaver dams (video) Nifty little video about beavers and the dams they build. They actually store "refrigerated" food for the winter.
Beavers are a keystone species. The largest known beaver dam is visible from space. Pics and factoids (with ugly green background). Some quick facts about beaver dams.
Beavers are a keystone species. The largest known beaver dam is visible from space. Pics and factoids (with ugly green background). Some quick facts about beaver dams.
They're an impressive list of factoids until they're radically transforming your property, at which point they just become "bastards."
Our current mitigation plan involves sets of outdoors speakers broadcasting an endless loop of running water sounds. I've been told by native persons whose land this once was that beavers are motivated to build by the sound of running water; when no amount of building abates the running water noise they become anxious and upset. The idea is they eventually abandon the site because it is haunted by ghost water that gives them the willies.
We'll see how it goes. Last summer's battles were roundly settled in favour of the Beavers at the expense of the apes (who can't afford the exorbitant rates for professional removal, and are unwilling to follow through on (illegal) capital punishment options).
Beavers are keen. But, still. Screw you, bastards!
posted by Construction Concern at 3:06 PM on April 8, 2015 [7 favorites]
Our current mitigation plan involves sets of outdoors speakers broadcasting an endless loop of running water sounds. I've been told by native persons whose land this once was that beavers are motivated to build by the sound of running water; when no amount of building abates the running water noise they become anxious and upset. The idea is they eventually abandon the site because it is haunted by ghost water that gives them the willies.
We'll see how it goes. Last summer's battles were roundly settled in favour of the Beavers at the expense of the apes (who can't afford the exorbitant rates for professional removal, and are unwilling to follow through on (illegal) capital punishment options).
Beavers are keen. But, still. Screw you, bastards!
posted by Construction Concern at 3:06 PM on April 8, 2015 [7 favorites]
Yeah, when we terraform Mars it'll be:
1 - ice comets
2 - bacteria
3 - plants
4 - beavers
posted by GuyZero at 3:14 PM on April 8, 2015 [5 favorites]
1 - ice comets
2 - bacteria
3 - plants
4 - beavers
posted by GuyZero at 3:14 PM on April 8, 2015 [5 favorites]
Construction Concern, I guy I know once tried running the water through pipes so that there was no sound of running water. I don't know how that worked out.
posted by No Robots at 3:21 PM on April 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by No Robots at 3:21 PM on April 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Wow, this is really, really cool!
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:25 PM on April 8, 2015
posted by Pope Guilty at 3:25 PM on April 8, 2015
My Dad conducted a decades-long gentleman's campaign against the beavers down on a four-mile stretch of cottonwood creek bottom. His deal with them was more or less this: "You can have these trees, but not those trees. You can build here, but not there. Cross that line and I will destroy your dams with this special tool I built for just that purpose and attached to my Caterpillar D8 tractor. Persist in crossing the line all the way into winter, and I'll have no choice but to invite the trapper onto the property."
There were always beavers. Sometimes there was a trapper. Through it all, everyone in the family developed a particular respect and admiration for the Clever, Mighty, Voracious Beaver, so compelled by his Appetites.
posted by mrettig at 3:25 PM on April 8, 2015 [5 favorites]
There were always beavers. Sometimes there was a trapper. Through it all, everyone in the family developed a particular respect and admiration for the Clever, Mighty, Voracious Beaver, so compelled by his Appetites.
posted by mrettig at 3:25 PM on April 8, 2015 [5 favorites]
A beaver thread on metafilter? I think this belongs here: Beaver Overthinking Dam.
posted by effbot at 3:31 PM on April 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by effbot at 3:31 PM on April 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
Don't get too close to them
My brother still has a scar on his butt from getting chomped by Chuck the Beaver at an environmental science center 35 years ago. Chuck was mean.
We had beavers in the backyard of our summer house when I was a kid. They were cool, but yeah, they took down all the birch trees on both sides of the canal. October was much less pretty after that. :-(
posted by suelac at 4:15 PM on April 8, 2015
My brother still has a scar on his butt from getting chomped by Chuck the Beaver at an environmental science center 35 years ago. Chuck was mean.
We had beavers in the backyard of our summer house when I was a kid. They were cool, but yeah, they took down all the birch trees on both sides of the canal. October was much less pretty after that. :-(
posted by suelac at 4:15 PM on April 8, 2015
My favorite animal; how I love them! The beaver is a magnificent animal! I probably have two dozen books about beavers and I'm happy to share.
See also: the IMAX movie Beavers which is available via Netflix. Beaversprite Is a sanctuary in upstate NY created by Dorothy Richards (link includes photo of her with several beaver in her lap) who shared her home with them. You can also join the Beaver Defenders (scroll down).
The pipes through the dams are called beaver baffles and they work by letting water out without that terrible gurgling sound that alerts beavers to the need to repair a dam. It also makes it harder to gain access to farther trees (prevents pond from rising and diverts water from the canals they dig) which also encourages them to move on.
posted by carmicha at 4:52 PM on April 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
See also: the IMAX movie Beavers which is available via Netflix. Beaversprite Is a sanctuary in upstate NY created by Dorothy Richards (link includes photo of her with several beaver in her lap) who shared her home with them. You can also join the Beaver Defenders (scroll down).
The pipes through the dams are called beaver baffles and they work by letting water out without that terrible gurgling sound that alerts beavers to the need to repair a dam. It also makes it harder to gain access to farther trees (prevents pond from rising and diverts water from the canals they dig) which also encourages them to move on.
posted by carmicha at 4:52 PM on April 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
See also: the IMAX movie Beavers which is available via Netflix.
If memory serves, at least 10% of that documentary consists of seemingly oblivious beavers nearly getting crushed by falling trees. They are diligent creatures but not terribly bright.
My favorite beaver fact is that you can build a fence around a culvert to deter them from building a dam and it's called a Beaver Deceiver.
posted by dephlogisticated at 5:11 PM on April 8, 2015 [9 favorites]
If memory serves, at least 10% of that documentary consists of seemingly oblivious beavers nearly getting crushed by falling trees. They are diligent creatures but not terribly bright.
My favorite beaver fact is that you can build a fence around a culvert to deter them from building a dam and it's called a Beaver Deceiver.
posted by dephlogisticated at 5:11 PM on April 8, 2015 [9 favorites]
I went up taking pictures of beaver dams, two days ago, they are so beautiful making all those sloughs, where I will photograph, paint, and fish. I love their business.
posted by Oyéah at 5:32 PM on April 8, 2015
posted by Oyéah at 5:32 PM on April 8, 2015
An apartment I used to live in had what was supposed to be a dry catchment basin behind it. Thanks to the busy little beavers, it was for many years a full fledged pond. Even design-level floods of didn't wash out their little dam that plugged up the outlet. The ducks and geese really enjoyed the open water that resulted.
Then some dumbass thought they saw an alligator (in Oklahoma, mind you!), so the city came out and demolished the beaver dam in the process of looking for the supposed alligator. Sadly, the dam was not rebuilt in the year and a half before we moved. I suppose it was nice to have less goose shit all over the grass thanks to the severely diminished number of geese, but all in all I preferred having the dam.
posted by wierdo at 7:13 PM on April 8, 2015
Then some dumbass thought they saw an alligator (in Oklahoma, mind you!), so the city came out and demolished the beaver dam in the process of looking for the supposed alligator. Sadly, the dam was not rebuilt in the year and a half before we moved. I suppose it was nice to have less goose shit all over the grass thanks to the severely diminished number of geese, but all in all I preferred having the dam.
posted by wierdo at 7:13 PM on April 8, 2015
I guy I know once tried running the water through pipes so that there was no sound of running water. I don't know how that worked out.
They actually kinda talk about that in the documentary linked above! It's in the context of a Canadian park, where beavers were building dams in culverts and would end up flooding roads out when the dams broke. The park eventually realized they couldn't possibly beat the beavers even when they were trapping 1,000 beavers a year, so they ended up building poles a ways back from the culverts to create extra water-running noises to entice the beavers. Then, when the beavers started to build there, the park incorporated pipes below the water level running from behind the beaver dam, through the dam, and into the water in front, to relieve water pressure without making the beavers go nuts building additional dams.
The documentary also has some really rad stuff about beaver family life -- apparently, beavers mate for life. Even more unusual for rodents, the babies of the previous year stick around for a second year of, like, beaver teenagerdom? They follow their parents around, learn how to build dams, start helping out around the pond, and babysit that year's wee ones.
tl;dr: I LOVE BEAVERS, POSSIBLY BECAUSE I AM A URBAN CITY-TYPE WHO HAS NEVER HAD TO DEAL WITH THEM IN REAL LIFE, BUT AT THE END OF THE DOCUMENTARY THERE IS THIS OLD FARMER LADY WHO IS SO DELIGHTED WHEN THEY BRING THE BEAVERS BACK TO THE PLACE WHERE SHE GREW UP THE WAY HER FACE LIGHTS UP OMG
posted by joyceanmachine at 7:14 PM on April 8, 2015 [7 favorites]
They actually kinda talk about that in the documentary linked above! It's in the context of a Canadian park, where beavers were building dams in culverts and would end up flooding roads out when the dams broke. The park eventually realized they couldn't possibly beat the beavers even when they were trapping 1,000 beavers a year, so they ended up building poles a ways back from the culverts to create extra water-running noises to entice the beavers. Then, when the beavers started to build there, the park incorporated pipes below the water level running from behind the beaver dam, through the dam, and into the water in front, to relieve water pressure without making the beavers go nuts building additional dams.
The documentary also has some really rad stuff about beaver family life -- apparently, beavers mate for life. Even more unusual for rodents, the babies of the previous year stick around for a second year of, like, beaver teenagerdom? They follow their parents around, learn how to build dams, start helping out around the pond, and babysit that year's wee ones.
tl;dr: I LOVE BEAVERS, POSSIBLY BECAUSE I AM A URBAN CITY-TYPE WHO HAS NEVER HAD TO DEAL WITH THEM IN REAL LIFE, BUT AT THE END OF THE DOCUMENTARY THERE IS THIS OLD FARMER LADY WHO IS SO DELIGHTED WHEN THEY BRING THE BEAVERS BACK TO THE PLACE WHERE SHE GREW UP THE WAY HER FACE LIGHTS UP OMG
posted by joyceanmachine at 7:14 PM on April 8, 2015 [7 favorites]
Any clues as to why the video won't play on my Win7 pc? Chrome shows a grey panel with a "plugin needed" kind of icon, but no active link to load a plugin, and Firefox just shows me a black panel.
posted by anadem at 8:32 PM on April 8, 2015
posted by anadem at 8:32 PM on April 8, 2015
Humans: They're an impressive list of factoids until they're radically transforming your property, at which point they just become "bastards."
posted by Sys Rq at 8:42 PM on April 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 8:42 PM on April 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
We'll see how it goes. Last summer's battles were roundly settled in favour of the Beavers at the expense of the apes (who can't afford the exorbitant rates for professional removal, and are unwilling to follow through on (illegal) capital punishment options).
I wonder where you live, because around here they are legally varmints/nuisance animals, and you can shoot them anytime they are causing problems on your property. (There is a permit required if you want to be legal, but I don't think many people bother with that, not that it is difficult or expensive to get.)
Beaver are critical to a functional ecosystem in North America, but because they were almost eradicated during the early European settlement, all of our infrastructure and housing is based around a lack of beavers. We would have designed very different roads, culverts, and bridges if we hadn't gotten rid of almost all the beavers a couple of centuries ago. The incompatibility of infrastructure and beavers is a really hard problem -- we need them in order to have healthy rivers and wetlands, but we can't have very many of them if we want our own infrastructure to function well.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:02 PM on April 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
I wonder where you live, because around here they are legally varmints/nuisance animals, and you can shoot them anytime they are causing problems on your property. (There is a permit required if you want to be legal, but I don't think many people bother with that, not that it is difficult or expensive to get.)
Beaver are critical to a functional ecosystem in North America, but because they were almost eradicated during the early European settlement, all of our infrastructure and housing is based around a lack of beavers. We would have designed very different roads, culverts, and bridges if we hadn't gotten rid of almost all the beavers a couple of centuries ago. The incompatibility of infrastructure and beavers is a really hard problem -- we need them in order to have healthy rivers and wetlands, but we can't have very many of them if we want our own infrastructure to function well.
posted by Dip Flash at 9:02 PM on April 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Everybody knows that in Canada,the youngest group of Cub Scouts are Beaver Scouts, right?
posted by GuyZero at 9:10 PM on April 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by GuyZero at 9:10 PM on April 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
See also: the IMAX movie Beavers which is available via Netflix
Innocently searches for Beavers, and then realizes his mistake.
Waves at Oyéah.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 11:56 PM on April 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Innocently searches for Beavers, and then realizes his mistake.
Waves at Oyéah.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 11:56 PM on April 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Beavers are returning to England for the first time in centuries.
The first pair has been spotted in Devon. In the River Otter.
I think they're messing with our minds.
posted by Devonian at 5:48 AM on April 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
The first pair has been spotted in Devon. In the River Otter.
I think they're messing with our minds.
posted by Devonian at 5:48 AM on April 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
carmicha: See also: the IMAX movie Beavers which is available via Netflix.
Previously, if I may be indulged.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:08 AM on April 9, 2015
Previously, if I may be indulged.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:08 AM on April 9, 2015
Metafilter: an impressive list of factoids until they're radically transforming your property privilege, at which point they just become "bastards."
posted by wenestvedt at 6:09 AM on April 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by wenestvedt at 6:09 AM on April 9, 2015 [2 favorites]
Re the IMAX Beaver movie and the "oblivious beavers nearly getting crushed by falling trees," it's tough to balance my love for the shots of beavers (swimming under water, felling trees, building the dam, etc.) with my total irritation at them on two fronts... 1) overemphasizing beaver candidates for the Darwin Awards (yes, it happens, but it's very rare) and 2) a "cute" Disneyfied thing where a beaver cuts down a tree with a baby bear in it to take revenge for a different adult bear's decision to mess with the lodge. Bear splashes into the water where there just happens to be a camera ready to catch the plunge. Yuck.
PS Baby beavers hitching rides by holding on to their parents' fur and tails? Squueeeeeeee!!! Oh and after checking out wenestvedt's link to the previous post, I do hope that every April there's a new FPP about beavers
posted by carmicha at 6:17 AM on April 10, 2015
PS Baby beavers hitching rides by holding on to their parents' fur and tails? Squueeeeeeee!!! Oh and after checking out wenestvedt's link to the previous post, I do hope that every April there's a new FPP about beavers
posted by carmicha at 6:17 AM on April 10, 2015
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posted by workerant at 3:02 PM on April 8, 2015 [6 favorites]