When you think of a beaver, what comes to mind? Do you think beavers are “river rats” who are a nuisance, or do you think of beavers as brilliant hydro-engineers?
When I think of beavers I think of the Disney film Lady and the Tramp where the beaver at the zoo chewed the mussel off of Lady. 🙂
Beavers are one of those animals that most people really don’t think about. After watching the PBS documentary, Leave it to Beavers, which is now available on DVD, I have new respect for those overgrown rats.
Leave it to Beavers is an in-depth look into beavers including the history beavers have with humans to have they are now helping humans in drought areas and perhaps even helping humans to fight against global warming.
To be honest with you I never really saw the benefit to a beaver. I mean, they are cute looking and I think it’s pretty cool that they can damn a river, but after watching this documentary I can see how amazing these creatures truly are. We should do what we can to protect them and not try and squeeze them out of areas. Trust me, they know what they are doing. They have a master plan. Beavers are incredible creatures.
Here is a little more information about Leave it to Beavers.
Millions of beavers once dominated the landscapes of Europe, Asia and North America. But when it was discovered that their fur made fantastic felt hats they were trapped to near extinction for the sake of fashion. It wasn’t until hats fell out of style that the population could slowly begin to recover and re-establish itself.
Yet as beavers reclaimed their ancestral ponds, they found themselves at odds with the humans who had moved in and developed the land in their absence. They gained a reputation as pests, the source of flooded properties and ruined roads, and were trapped and hunted all over again in an attempt to stop the damage. But it was a war the beavers continued to win, until a “beaver whisperer” in Canada came up with a plan to manipulate where the beavers built. It’s a win-win solution he plans to share with others who fight a losing war with beavers.
Beavers are devoted to their work as dam builders and they are born equipped and ready for the job. Their continuously growing, self-sharpening incisors strengthened with iron are the perfect tools of the trade. Not only do they help beavers fell the hundreds of trees they need to dam a river, they also come in handy for meals because beavers are vegetarians that gnaw through bark to eat the sugary layer underneath.
Every beaver family works together to build their dams of stone, logs and mud. They erect sturdy lodges with secret entrances and exits and excavate deep channels in ponds that help retain water in arid environments. And as they work, broad meadows, rich with silt, and new ponds are created.
By the 1990s, scientists began to notice and investigate the effects beavers were having on the landscape and to document the results. A dramatic example is what happened to Nevada’s Suzie Creek, transformed by beavers from a desert to a veritable garden supporting wildlife such as sandhill cranes and mule deer.
Leave it to Beavers introduces viewers to an animal rehab expert who teaches a rescued orphan beaver the skills he’ll need to survive in the wild, and to hairdresser Sherri Tippie, the top live trapper of the species in North America, who rescues unwanted beavers in the Denver suburbs and then places them with farmers and beaver enthusiasts who eagerly provide new homes for them. Whether displaced from their pond, now part of a new housing development, or singled out for gnawing on trees at a golf course, Tippie has relocated over 1,000 beavers to date and her chief priority remains to keep families together. According to Tippie, “We’re asking so much of these animals and we’re displacing them. They’ve moved into a place where they should be and we don’t want them there. So if we’re going to mess around with them then we need to treat them as well as possible and then put them at a place where they can live out their lives.”
I found the documentary to be fascinating. It’s hard to believe Beavers can gnaw down that much wood to create elaborate damns that can change the landscape.
It’s pretty cool how the beavers know where to place the wood they carry to the damn. It’s like an intricate puzzle. They can some how make the pieces fit. Just the fact they know where to put the pieces tells me these are highly intelligent animals.
You don’t have to be a fan of beavers, or even animals, to appreciate this enlightening and entertaining documentary. I think anyone – young or old – will be truly captivated by the amazing and incredible beaver.
The documentary runs for about 60 minutes and it can be purchased for $19.99 (retail price) online at www.ShopPBS.org.
For more information you can visit the PBS website www.PBS.org.
Here is the trailer for your entertainment.
Kimberly
*I received a free screener copy in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.