Comments on: Interesting Facts About Beavers

By: Jessie

Jessie — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:17:27 +0000

The Pope's decision to classify beavers (and capybaras) as fish had less to do with their environment and everything to do with the Church's goal to collect souls. People weren't exactly lining up to convert. Asking them to give up their traditional foods wouldn't really lure them in.

By: Him

Him — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:13:58 +0000

"Also just like men, they won’t stop building until the job is done"? Doesn't sound like most men I know.

By: Skipweasel

Skipweasel — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:37:59 +0000

Beavers have already been reintroduced to parts of Scotland and studies into repopulating parts of England are underway.
Needless to say, some landowners are very keen, others see it as the end of the world as we know it.

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:22:13 +0000

well, can the great barrier reef be seen from space? I'd think a better example of "animal" created structures that can be seen from space would be the Great Wall of China. Oh, but then again, that's a myth.

By: emmiline valentine

emmiline valentine — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:19:01 +0000

i once went snowshoeing over a frozen beaver dam. it's really neat- they help support a huge wetland ecosystem. even though it was the dead of winter in the north there were tons of little mouse tracks, fisher (the animal) tracks- tracks from weasels, ravens, etc. all over the place - the dam kept a pond of water full of fish and plants for those animals to live off of. really neat stuff.

By: tomtom

tomtom — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:09:24 +0000

"...the only animal-created structures that can be seen from space" - Anyone heard of a little something starting with 'G' and ending in 'reat Barrier Reef'?

By: dithie

dithie — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:06:52 +0000

Interesting piece! I would, however, prefer to see gender-inclusive language in the first part, unless you meant that only men are responsible for changing our environment!

By: Eatintea

Eatintea — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 02:31:48 +0000

I think the order to be switched to "Terrible Pests and Our Only Hope." In my mind's eye I see the wonder of nature for decades and centuries chipped away by irate farmers with rifles.

By: Marge

Marge — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:36:24 +0000

Beavers being fish probably contributed to their extinction in the UK (fur being the major factor).

And you missed a good bit about their sex organs; in Medieval Europe it was believed that male beavers would bite off their own testicles and throw them at pursuing hunters to get them to leave him alone!

Nice illumination of this: http://bestiary.ca/chimaera/103

By: JMM

JMM — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:25:52 +0000

I think it is pretty stupid for the Pope to say that beavers are fish. I keep hoping that President Obama will close down the Roman Catholic Church in this country because of issues like this, when President Obama campaigned on calls for greater use of science. I know that President Obama can not shut down the whole Vatican thing world-wide but surely he can shut down the Pope's operation in this country.

By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:13:15 +0000

"those darn dams" - I see what you did there ... and I wonder what those Russian scientists were trying to do with their mating experiments ...

By: Staxeon

Staxeon — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:58:26 +0000

Beaver fur is still widely used in the making of hats. The hat makers Stetson and Borselino were fur trappers, harvesting pelts on their own and turning the fur into fine felt.

By: chrisSD

chrisSD — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:46:32 +0000

im pretty sure that elephants change their environment more than beavers. one theory says that the savannahs in Africa are a result of elephants deforesting the land....

By: Mouserz

Mouserz — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:42:10 +0000

I love beavers.

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:04:28 +0000

After watching a movie about beavers a few weeks ago...

Now, there's only one kind of movie that fits that description. Unless...no. Only one.