The Deep Weirdness of Beavers | Hacker News Reader

The Deep Weirdness of Beavers

lithub.com

73 pointsagronaut28 comments

To fully appreciate the beaver I can only recommend zefrank1’s tribute: https://youtu.be/s2YXFeraM8I

I was so excited when he reached out asking me for some of the microscopy images I took of beaver teeth during my PhD! Great video.

Neo: I now understand beavers.

Of course, Popular Science established back in 1930 that Mars is home to the most evolutionarily advanced beavers in the Solar system: https://www.popsci.com/science/do-beavers-rule-on-mars/

And then there's Buc-ee's the true modern temple of the beaver: https://buc-ees.com/

Truly amazing creatures - and an excellent video!

I know it's "lithub.com" and therefore I guess focused on writing but I find it frustrating that the article could not be bothered including a picture of a Beaver that showed what they were talking about.

Although after finding a clear picture on Wikipedia I don't think they look that weird. But then again I grew up thinking that Platypi (Platypuses? Platypodes?) were normal :-D

The author's "weirdness" argument stems largely from the conjunction of similar features seemingly borrowed from unrelated animals, and the relative uniqueness of the beaver in doing so (the platypus is considered weird for the same reason, at least around here).

I think the author really over-does it, though- the inclusion of "bear" is a long stretch; it really doesn't resemble a bear more than other similarly sized rodent species, and north america has had no shortage of gigantic ancestors of modern mammals. Having a bear-sized ancestor is nothing special either (though a bear sized beaver would indeed be a sight to behold!)

Even the references to other animals is a bit much- really, if you took away the funky tail, and remembered that lots of mammals have more webbing between their digits than humans do (otters, even ferrets!) and useful grasping fingers (watching raccoons eat is a delight)... well, they look an awful lot like a rabbit without the long ears.

As for their colony building, there are plenty of other animals that build colonies, though beavers have a somewhat uniquely semi-aquatic behavioral adaptation in the way they build dams.

They really are fascinating creatures, but also terribly destructive if they decide your bushes or trees look interesting. I've got metal wire mesh wrapped around several trees to protect them from the buggers.

A human calling beavers destructive is ironic.

The Platypus is even weirder because it's part beaver, part duck, it lays eggs, produces milk, can detect electromagnetic fields... Also, males have a venomous claw on their back paws.

This made me ask, "since platypuses lay eggs, they must not have internal pregnancies, but if that's the case, then what causes them to start producing milk?", and I don't have an answer yet, but I did just learn that they don't have nipples and instead they just sort of "sweat" milk. (Also they have no sweat glands?)

Another relevant fact seems to be that they don't lay unfertilized eggs. So maybe they do have pregnancies of a sort.

Answers.com, not the best source (also not the worst), asserts [1]:

> Fertilised platypus eggs stay in the mother's body for around 28 days, although lack of research means this has not been determined definitively. The eggs are incubated by the mother curling around them and keeping them warm and dry in the chamber of the burrow for another 10 days.

I'm not sure I get the point of the egg if the majority of the pregnancy is internal anyway. Maybe evolution is just random.

[1] https://www.answers.com/Q/How_long_is_a_platypus_pregnant_fo...

Evolution is indeed random, and barring strong selection pressure (aka animals dying or being unable to reproduce due to specific traits), everything goes.

It’s a common theme for species to widely diversify during good times, then for the variability to dramatically reduce during bad times to only those most capable of surviving in the new and harsh environment. It can lead to extinctions if the variability was mostly unhelpful and core important functionality was lost.

Aka, a population bottleneck - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck

Living in the land of the Beaver (Canada - we have a Beaver on our 5 cent coin even) they are weird animals.

I live near a nature trail with a river and you can find the results of there "work" everywhere - cut down trees and dams.

Not many animals invest so much effort cutting down very large trees and creating dams.

Lived here for 22 years, see their dams, and a LOT of "spikes" in the ground where small trees once stood but have never actually seen a Beaver in the wild??

Fellow Canadian here - I only ever saw one quite far from beaver activity, apparently a young male striking out on his own. Otherwise I gather they hide in their dens when humans are about.

I'm reminded of those Canadian Humorists the Arrogant worms' excellent prose:

"you might think a rodent/ is a pretty lame choice/ for a national animal, but/ don't you listen to that voice

Cuz all them birds and predators/ Just take from the land/ but the beaver/ Always gives a dam"

Thankfully I had young kids and live near the Toronto zoo.. so i did get to see them ;)

Do be careful around beavers though. Their teeth are REALLY strong, I know at least one example personally of a human killed by a beaver, it bit through a critical vein in his leg and the guy bled to death. To be fair the guy was a hunter so I guess karma.

I think your point should be expanded a bit.

Do not interact with wild animals in general. They are not pets, they are not domesticated and are unpredictable.

They can and will bite, often shockingly hard.

I'm in the USA and the only time I've seen beavers in the wild is when they are swimming and I'm in a canoe. They must be better at hiding from humans when they are on land.

In the water they're easy to spot because of the ripples behind them, and because they often slap the water with their tail to warn others of danger (my canoe, apparently).

They tend to stay away from humans, but can be very aggressive if they feel someone is on their turf. And have crazy big teeth that can take out a human no issues if they want.

Apparently they absolutely hate the sound and feel of running water, which is the behavioral cue that apparently causes all that dam behavior. [https://wildlifehelp.org/solution/new-york/beaver/how-preven...]

There is a good more-calming-than-it-has-a-right-to-be culvert clearing guy (post10) that can be entertaining. He’s run across beavers a few times, and is always clearing out culverts and drains they clog [https://youtu.be/ojQlk1yGHSw]

Never? Probably depends on where you are in the country, but they're quite bountiful in the west. Even seen kits with their parents.

I live next to some urban Beavers. I really wonder about their genetics. Like do some of them leave to find another family to join? How do they do that in the city? Or are they genetically stable? Or is this family going to die out after a while? I've seen them swimming at sunset a few times. I think I saw one out of the water once, but I wasn't sure what I was looking at.

wow I had no idea urban beavers exist. I thought they are quite fragile creatures who require clean water and prefer relative peace and quiet.

The semi-urban ones in the park near me took out the 5ft diameter willow trees by chewing a circle around the outside. There's a duck pond with just a few willow trees around it, so the change will be pretty drastic.

There are a ton of them in the suburbs east of Seattle. They're hard to spot in person most of the time, but you can see all the trees they've mauled, and sometimes they get hit by cars.

Anyone going along the Sammamish River Trail through Redmond will see their handiwork. There was even a dead one along the bank a while back[0], and it was a lot bigger than I expected having never seen one up close. More "small/medium-sized dog" than "cute little furry thing". I wouldn't get close to a live one.

[0] For the locals, on the gravelled west side of the trail north of Leary Way. It wasn't hit by a car (nowhere near the road), and I don't know what would be big enough to kill one that wouldn't take at least a few bites. Long gone now.

They are recovering around the SF Bay Area

Urban beavers are a thing in Illinois as well.

I see them sometimes in the ponds in office parks. Or in lakes in suburban parks.

I wouldn't be too shocked to learn they are living along the Chicago river.

This article is a writing expert trying to write about animals. Not an animal expert taking a crack at writing.

If you are expecting information that gives you a better understanding of beavers and or their history or environmental niche look elsewhere.

Beavers have fascinated me since I was a teenager...

Beavers are less deeply weird than the author's contorted writing style.

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