Animal of the week: The antics of the American beaver got a taste

Before when man evolved, there were only a few animals on earth that could close an entire waterway. Nowadays, it works conveniently, for example, by driving a cargo ship across the Suez Canal or by attacking Iran.

Of course, the beaver has been hustling on a smaller scale, clogging streams, for millions of years.

The beaver is an absolutely wonderful creature, a true ecosystem engineer. In a turn of the tail, it mills the entire landscape into a new faith. The beaver knows how to cut down trees, build dams and make handsome huts for himself.

Probably, the beaver’s ancestor first developed the ability to shake the bark of a tree for food. It has been natural to extend it to construction work.

Majavia there are two species: European beaver ( Castor fiber ) and American beaver ( Castor canadiensis ). Earlier we talked about the Canadian beaver.

America’s energetic troublemaker was once considered a fine fellow. Nowadays, Europe has lost a bit of taste for its activities. Last summer, the EU declared the American beaver a harmful alien species.

The American beaver is not in any way harmful to nature, on the contrary. It benefits the ecosystem by creating rich habitats for other species, like the native European beaver. The only problem is that the American beaver threatens to displace the original European beaver, being a more vigorous animal.

At one time it was thought that they were one and the same species. That’s why beavers were brought from America to the place when the European beaver was hunted almost to extinction. But they can’t even breed with each other. The American beaver has 40 chromosomes, the European beaver has 48.

Last in the Czech Republic, a family of beavers proved to be very energetic. In the Brdy nature reserve, the authorities had been agonizing for a long time that a dam should be built. The area was once drained by making a canal. But what about building permits, bureaucracy, you have to get excavators and workers from somewhere…

One morning there was a dam. The beavers had built it in a couple of nights. The dam worked perfectly and the beavers saved the government 1.2 million euros. That’s how much was budgeted for the construction work.