Rescue beaver makes Christmas dam in house

January 1, 2023 3:46 PM

What it says on the tin (SLYT) A young beaver celebrates Christmas by building a dam

This beaver is being raised by wildlife rehabbers after being orphaned as a newborn. Her parents were killed and their dam and lodge destroyed. Beavers are classified as nuisance animals in many US states and can be killed anytime. Beavers need to spend 2 years with their human rehabbers. They need to have lots of opportunities to practice instinctive behaviors. This beaver enjoys playing this game inside the house but lives with the other orphaned beavers outside most of the time. We hope you fall in love ! This misunderstood and unique species needs lots of it!

posted by mumimor (54 comments total)

He must have been so happy to find that tree. "This feels right."
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:55 PM on January 1, 2023 [25 favorites]

Who lives in a pineapple under a rescue beaver's Christmas dam?
SpongeBob SquarePants!
posted by gwint at 4:00 PM on January 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

Oh wait, it looks like I wrote the text below the line: it was a quote from the channel. I don't know if the mods can make that more apparent?
posted by mumimor at 4:02 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

I love that beaver.
posted by Toddles at 4:04 PM on January 1, 2023 [6 favorites]

I can understand why a beaver has an instinct to pile things up, though it would be impressive to understand how the instinct works.

Why do humans have an instinct to make giant Spongebob Squarepants plushies?
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 4:26 PM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

I can understand why a beaver has an instinct to pile things up, though it would be impressive to understand how the instinct works.

I'd heard it explained once that beavers can't stand the burble of running water. That does not explain this beaver behavior, however.
posted by hippybear at 4:32 PM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

Beavers gonna beav.
posted by Capt. Renault at 4:34 PM on January 1, 2023 [17 favorites]

I'd like to hire that beaver.
posted by vrakatar at 5:08 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

I like it when the dog plushie falls off, and the beaver looks at it like, “WTF, I put you up there. Fuck it, I’ve got other stuff to get”, and walks off. Then gives it a dirty look when it brings the next item.
posted by Windopaene at 5:11 PM on January 1, 2023 [13 favorites]

Why do humans have an instinct to make giant Spongebob Squarepants plushies

To build dams that pool huge human ponds of cash.
posted by CynicalKnight at 5:30 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

dam
posted by clavdivs at 5:36 PM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

There are many things, and I cannot emphasize this too strongly, that are not on top of other things.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:37 PM on January 1, 2023 [19 favorites]

For an existentialist explanation for these acts of instinct, I suppose we should consult the philosophies of Simone de Beav-oir.
posted by bartleby at 6:15 PM on January 1, 2023 [19 favorites]

I'd like to hire that beaver.

Damn you, I've gone for, like, twenty years without getting "I'm Gonna Hire a Wino" stuck in my head, and here I am in the year of our Lord twenty and twenty-three spending the evening with David Fucking Frizzell and an Internet beaver.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:25 PM on January 1, 2023 [6 favorites]

My dog does this
posted by latkes at 6:47 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

My dog does this

Describe your dog's tail.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:53 PM on January 1, 2023 [76 favorites]

Beavers gonna beav, otters gonna ott.
posted by The otter lady at 6:54 PM on January 1, 2023 [4 favorites]

I love beavers so much, they are the cutest and definitely under-rated as compared to otters, for example. The little faces, the stout bodies, the tiny grippy hands! All of it is adorable. This is great, thanks for posting.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 6:55 PM on January 1, 2023 [14 favorites]

Pulls SpongeBob over
Puts SpongeBob on top of other things

*patpat* yep, good enough
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 7:03 PM on January 1, 2023

Those feet! That tail!
posted by BostonTerrier at 7:08 PM on January 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

they are the cutest and definitely under-rated as compared to otters, for example

I WILL FIGHT YOU by flapping my pawbs cutely
posted by The otter lady at 7:13 PM on January 1, 2023 [23 favorites]

Announcer: Leave it to Beaver!

[video of beaver literally having it left to itself]
posted by credulous at 7:29 PM on January 1, 2023 [5 favorites]

I was in Sharon, CT over the summer and witnessed an enormous, thriving with life bog that had apparently been created by successive handfuls of beavers on the perimeter of a subdivision over 30 odd years. They are arguably, especially at this particular moment, among the greatest Americans.
posted by ryanshepard at 7:32 PM on January 1, 2023 [16 favorites]

C A S T O R !
posted by lalochezia at 8:07 PM on January 1, 2023 [5 favorites]

Beavers are awesome but also pretty tough. My brother has a scar on his butt from a beaver at the wildlife rehabilitation center he worked at in high school...

This beaver however was adorable.
posted by suelac at 8:23 PM on January 1, 2023 [5 favorites]

The water flows.
posted by xedrik at 9:00 PM on January 1, 2023

Beaver dams are incredibly important for creating a wildlife refuge during drought and fire.

Beaver dams also help mitigate flooding from extreme weather events.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:47 PM on January 1, 2023 [10 favorites]

Beavers are heat wave heroes. Animals don’t have AC. But they have beavers.

"These web-footed, fat-tailed amphibious rodents help countless other critters survive a heat wave. They not only drench certain landscapes in cold water but also help cool the air. They even make forests and grasslands less likely to burn."
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 9:55 PM on January 1, 2023 [10 favorites]

Nancy Lebovitz: I can understand why a beaver has an instinct to pile things up, though it would be impressive to understand how the instinct works.

hippybear: I'd heard it explained once that beavers can't stand the burble of running water. That does not explain this beaver behavior, however.

This intrigued me enough to do some research. And I came across this Mental Floss article: The Sound of Running Water Puts Beavers in the Mood to Build

In the 1960s, Swedish biologist Lars Wilsson wanted to know if this industrious behavior was learned or innate. He decided to capture four adult beavers with the intention of raising them in different habitats. Some were kept in an outdoor enclosure and others in a glass-walled terrarium indoors.

When a new generation of beavers was born, he chose a few of them to raise in isolation in order to study which of their behaviors were instinctual. He discovered that when released into running water, the young beavers built near perfect examples of dams on their first try. Wilsson then tried a different experiment where he placed the beavers in still or very slow-moving water. The subjects responded by burying themselves in the mud and making no attempts to build.

It was only when Wilsson played them the sounds of running water through a speaker that their instincts kicked in.
posted by davidwitteveen at 10:00 PM on January 1, 2023 [13 favorites]

That was way cuter than I thought it would be.

That'll do, beav...that'll do.
posted by davidmsc at 10:42 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

I can understand why a beaver has an instinct to pile things up, though it would be impressive to understand how the instinct works.

To my mind, Nancy Lebovitz, putting a knee forward to a dog evokes a play bow in reverse from them and it's instinctual behavior on both sides. And from what I've seen, wolf cubs make the same bows in play in nature documentaries, so I am guessing that, by their lead, we maybe worked it out together as we evolved together.
posted by y2karl at 11:31 PM on January 1, 2023

I can understand why a beaver has an instinct to pile things up, though it would be impressive to understand how the instinct works.

Whenever I see a video like this, I wonder if they're frustrated. This is obviously instinctual behavior, but does the beaver understand that this dam wouldn't work? Is she concerned about how ineffective a SpongeBob toy would be at holding back water?
posted by Mavri at 11:42 PM on January 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

You laugh now - but when the corridor floods…
posted by rongorongo at 2:13 AM on January 2, 2023 [11 favorites]

Belly laughed when I saw the tree.
posted by freethefeet at 2:42 AM on January 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

I love how she carefully tucked the little Spongelegs in at the beginning of the pile.

From the look of some of the toys (the baby Big Bird, the Christmas puppy) and the brief glimpse of a dog running by, it sure seemed like she was grabbing someone else’s toys, not Designated Beaver Toys. I can imagine a lot of tears in the background when someone discovers their favorite toy in the pile with beaver spit all over it…
posted by Mchelly at 4:44 AM on January 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

It was only when Wilsson played them the sounds of running water through a speaker that their instincts kicked in.

That’s a neat finding, but why would this beaver build a dam in the house, where there is presumably no water running (maybe it’s time to fix the toilet).
posted by waving at 5:08 AM on January 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is a rescue beaver, who undoubtedly learned and reinforced the instinctual behavior from its parents. The beavers in that study were raised isolated and found to still have the instinct kick in when running water sounds were played, but they had not learned it from anyone.
posted by hippybear at 5:45 AM on January 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Also the sound of running water is unlikely to be the only trigger for instinctual behaviour rather just one we know about and is easily quantified and tested for.

As another example consider how border collies, even those raised as pets and never trained in herding, will herd pretty much anything including inanimate objects like balls and leaves.
posted by Mitheral at 7:28 AM on January 2, 2023 [6 favorites]

Yes, my mix of all herd dogs cannot not herd, and it stresses him terribly if he is for some reason prevented from doing so.
posted by mumimor at 7:33 AM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

I didn't know that beavers were in such danger. 15-20 years ago, I saw a local television show in which a man in a very expensive area outside of Boston had a stream running behind his gigantic house. Beavers dammed it. Rather than getting angry, the man responded by buying water lilies and ducks for his new pond.
posted by pangolin party at 7:46 AM on January 2, 2023 [15 favorites]

One of the unexpected consequences of the reintroduction of Wolves to Yellowstone was that the Beaver population went up and it is changing the ecosystem in a good way.

Wolf Reintroduction Changes Ecosystem in Yellowstone

From the article:

"Today, the park is home to nine beaver colonies, with the promise of more to come, as the reintroduction of wolves continues to astonish biologists with a ripple of direct and indirect consequences throughout the ecosystem.

A flourishing beaver population is just one of those consequences, said Smith."
posted by indianbadger1 at 10:24 AM on January 2, 2023 [9 favorites]

From Bill Wurtz's History of the Entire World, I Guess:
Question 1: can you get to India through North America?
Answer: No. But at least there's Beaver.
posted by bartleby at 10:40 AM on January 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Rescue beaver

Oh, I see! The beaver was rescued. I assumed at first it was trained to save drowning people or something.
posted by Grangousier at 11:25 AM on January 2, 2023 [16 favorites]

OMG!! That was the cutest thing ever!! Thank you!!
posted by riverlife at 11:48 AM on January 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

I assumed at first it was trained to save drowning people or something.
You're thinking of the Bondi Beach Paddle Wombat
posted by bartleby at 12:20 PM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

I am always conflicted when videos like this go viral. On the one hand, we #BeaverBelievers, both scientists and enthusiasts, need all the support we can get from the broader public, and as this thread shows, videos like this do a great job of raising awareness about beavers. On the other hand, I am skeptical that this beaver will ever be releasable because it is far too habituated to people to be safe in a beaver-hostile world, and in general, videos of people keeping wildlife as pets encourage more people to keep wildlife as pets, and that's just not a good idea.

If you want to learn more about the ecological promise of beavers to help restore the North American landscape to something closer to pre-colonization and the Eurasian landscape to something closer to pre-extirpation, Emily Fairfax is one of the leaders in research and also really good at science communication. Rather than the video above, I recommend this one and safe respect for the amazing good beavers can do for us all (from a distance).

For more citizen science #BeaverBelievers, no one is better than the people of Martinez, CA. Many other towns keep trying (and failing) to get rid of their beavers, but Martinez has embraced them and made them a point of pride.

The Eurasian beaver story is a little different just because they were so thoroughly extirpated from most of the continent and entirely from the British Isles. The UK Beaver Trust is one of the groups working to bring them back and raise awareness and appreciation for all they can do.

If you are the kind of person who reads books, Eager by Ben Goldfarb is pretty great
posted by hydropsyche at 1:39 PM on January 2, 2023 [13 favorites]

Beavers were hunted to extinction in Sweden (for Castoreum) but was reintroduced. I walk by a beaver house on my early morning dog walks, and we sometimes see the beavers in the water, and they’re gnawed and felled trees. It’s nice,
Dexter the dog doesn’t quite know what to make of them though.
posted by boogieboy at 2:57 PM on January 2, 2023 [8 favorites]

And having watched the video, YouTube has shown me others and they are delightful, aren't they? I'm definitely pro-beaver at this point.
posted by Grangousier at 3:51 PM on January 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

Damn you, I've gone for, like, twenty years without getting "I'm Gonna Hire a Wino" stuck in my head, and here I am in the year of our Lord twenty and twenty-three spending the evening with David Fucking Frizzell and an Internet beaver.

Yeah, damn you also. I loved singing that song when I was nine years old, it has such a catchy verse that it's hard not to dance to. I had no idea at the the time of any of the broader implications. I just loved the song and I loved dancing.

(Okay, in reality, I love learning the more complicated things about my childhood. They just come at such unexpexted times.)
posted by Quonab at 5:30 PM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

During the summer, I like to go down to the Scarborough (that's Ontario) Bluffs at dawn. If you're quiet, you can hang out with the beavers in the settlement ponds for a while. I've had one swim right under me as I stood on a deck. They are big yet very graceful
posted by scruss at 9:02 PM on January 2, 2023 [5 favorites]

Remember that hit song by The Beevers?

Then I saw his face,
Now I love a beaver,
Without a trace
Of water in sight.
I'm in love,
Now I love a beaver
Without a river
To dam tonight.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:32 PM on January 2, 2023 [11 favorites]

Get out.
posted by Naberius at 10:16 PM on January 2, 2023 [4 favorites]

These beavers brought some needed soothing joy to my brain.
posted by interogative mood at 8:25 PM on January 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

more of the same beaver: Rescue beaver keeping the pool tidy (via)
posted by scruss at 6:30 AM on January 6, 2023 [4 favorites]