Castor Canadensis V

hat-tip/tail-slap to Jill Winters Addington

Scrolling through the archives reveals 133 tagged posts with beaver-themed content, with fourteen specifically devoted to the Castor Canadensis topic (meaning a small collection of news items, memes etc.). We gotta bump those rookie numbers up… so here’s another installment of toothsome material… follow below the fold for more!

“One has but to observe a community of beavers at work in a stream to understand the loss in his sagacity, balance, co-operation, competence, and purpose which Man has suffered since he rose up on his hind legs.” - James Thurber

The grounding of the ship Ever Given and subsequent blockage of the Suez Canal provided much memeable material. I need to start spreading my own conspiracy theories about such matters, say, about a shadowy underwater figure known as "B" who will reveal all to the faithful, eventually. 

Regular readers of this feature will be well aware of how much impact the engineering efforts of the humble beaver can have upon their two-legged counterpart's communities. For example, take the nine-hundred BC residents who lost their connections on account of some covert conduit + cable appetizers.

National Geographic writer Amy McKeever calls beavers "ecosystem engineers" that rank as a "keystone species" on account of their architectural activities.

 The Weather Network posted a video from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan of a beaver breaking the ice here.

Talk about a real headache: A UAF researcher presents evidence here on how much of a colonizer of the tundra beavers can be, and as harbingers of encroaching climate change, through effects that are happening right here in our neck of the woods.

(hat-tip/tail-slap Amanda T.)

Another perspective on the issue is reported by Sam Bishop for Aurora Magazine (link here). “UAF researchers Ken Tape and Ben Jones, along with several other scientists, have used satellite images taken across time to document the march of beavers into #Arctic Alaska. They say the invasion’s potential impact on ecosystems is vast."

Here's a whole suite of links to help you with some audio therapy should the need arise: there's cabbage; or sweet potato; or carrots; or bark + leaves.

Here's a great idea for a fun home-schooling exercise (preparing for a potential dystopian economy) on "Exotic Currency: Beaver Pelts." During the fur trade days of yore, the Hudson's Bay Company "based its exchange rates on beaver pelts." An example of the value of a pelt was in its equivalence to 2.25 kg of sugar, or, a pair of shoes. A gun would cost you a dozen pelts.

(hat-tip/tail-slap Dave D.)

Before venturing to the museum for field sketches during the pen + ink portion of my drawing courses, we warm up back in the department studio with preliminary practice on textures. My handy bag o' beavers provides a wide range of ref-fur-rence material.