WEBVTT - Selects: Beavers: Tail Slapping Fun 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:03.400 Everyone. It's Josh, and for this week's Select, I've chosen 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:08.400 our October twenty twenty episode on beavers because it's one 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:11.320 of our best animal episodes, which is really saying something 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:14.400 because our animal episodes are pretty great. And it turns 0:00:14.400 --> 0:00:17.200 out that beavers aren't just cute and diligent at work. 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.920 They have a huge cascading effect, a positive one too, 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:24.560 on the ecosystems that they move into. So behold and 0:00:24.720 --> 0:00:26.240 enjoy the Beaver. 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:40.400 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:43.760 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, and 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:47.239 there's Charles w Chuck Bryan over there, and there's Jerry somewhere. 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:52.920 And it says, Steve, you should know the Orange Insizer's edition. 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:57.600 No, I thought you're gonna make a bad naked gun joke. 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:01.200 No, No, it's We've run through my head over and 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:03.520 over and over and over and over and over and 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:04.120 over again. 0:01:04.200 --> 0:01:07.800 Though it's hard though when you're at our age. Yeah, 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:09.760 and you saw those movies, yeah for sure. 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:13.399 Yeah. Dumb joke though, Yeah, Well, I mean it's a 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:15.800 naked gun joke for Pete's saying, come. 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.560 On, So this kind of ties in I think a 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:23.080 little bit with our porcupine episode and that beavers are 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:26.520 you know, they're porcupine esque in some ways. 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.240 I think it ties in even more to our Wetlands episode, 0:01:29.240 --> 0:01:33.640 which gave birth to the idea for this episode. You know, yeah, absolutely, 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.160 I mean I'm pretty excited about this one. I think 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:40.360 beavers are about as great as it gets because they're 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:44.920 so studious and they also bend the world to their will. 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.040 They shape things the way that they want them and 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:49.160 I like that about them. 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:55.360 Yeah, and I also love their familial aspects. Yeah, which 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:57.920 we'll get to all this stuff. But what we're talking 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:01.880 about is the largest rodent in North America. 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:04.000 Which really demeans them, I guess. 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:06.400 But yes, rodent's such a it's not a bad word. 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:13.680 There's so many great rodents. Oh, beavers, porcupines, what else. Squirrels. 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:15.920 I know you have a thing with squirrels. 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:18.160 But well, I know I like squirrels now. Momo and 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:21.880 I and you me sometimes comes with us to chase 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:25.920 squirrels across the street in the park and feed them peanuts. 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:28.359 We give them peanuts is like to kind of buy 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:31.040 them off after mo chases them up a tree. But 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:34.120 the squirrels across the way will actually come to you 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:38.239 and eat peanuts out of your hand. So I'm kind 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:43.359 of on squirrels now. Momo loves squirrels, chipmunks, mice, chipmunks too. Yeah. 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:44.720 Rodents are okay, Chuck. 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:47.839 I think there are fewer terrible rodents, and the only 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:50.920 ones I can think of that are terrible are those 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:54.200 scary New York City sewer rats. 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.919 Oh yeah, okay, so rodents are all right up with rodents, 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:02.280 I guess rabbits and I don't think they're rodents. 0:03:02.919 --> 0:03:04.120 They are you like a hamster? 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:07.240 Sure, hamsters. I don't know if rabbits are rodents. Are 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:08.799 they It makes sense that they would be. 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:10.799 But it's what rodent dot com says. 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:14.480 Okay, well, who am I to disagree with that? But 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.160 we're not talking about rabbits. We're not talking about sewer rats. 0:03:17.160 --> 0:03:22.320 We're talking about beavers. And again, beavers are amazing, amazing animals, 0:03:22.480 --> 0:03:24.200 and like you said, you know, it's kind of related 0:03:24.200 --> 0:03:27.640 to porcupines, and that there's what you could call Old 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:30.960 World and New World beavers. But there's really just two species, 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:33.760 and one is found in North America and one is 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:38.040 found in Eurasia. And it's easy, pasy, no fuss, no must. 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.240 These are the beavers that are alive on the planet. 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:46.320 Yeah, so we've got the American beaver. They weigh between 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:51.680 fifteen and sixty five pounds, which is very large. If 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:54.240 you've ever seen a large beaver in the wild, it's 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:57.880 not scary because you know, and we'll get to whether 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.360 or not they they're dangerous. They're really not. But it's 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:03.600 such a large thing that you're like, wow, they're bigger 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:06.080 than I thought. Usually has run through my head when 0:04:06.080 --> 0:04:06.640 I see a beaver. 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.760 Yeah, I mean sixty or thirty No, yeah, sixty five 0:04:09.800 --> 0:04:11.640 pounds is about thirty kilograms. 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:12.600 It's a big beaver. 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:14.800 It is a big beaver. And I had to converty 0:04:14.840 --> 0:04:18.480 to kilograms for at least our friends in Canada because 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:21.640 beaver's their national emblem. They have beaver on their nickel, 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.840 which is amazing. Like, this just makes me love Canada 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:25.880 all the much more, you know. 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:30.080 So for that sixty pounds, you're going to be a 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.520 couple of feet long twenty three to forty inches long. Hm, 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:36.680 that's without the tail. You don't count the tail when 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.480 you're measuring a beaver. The tail will talk a little 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:41.839 bit more about it, But they're anywhere from seven to 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:46.679 twelve inches. If you're Eurasian, you're about the same size. Mate. 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.280 You can be a little bit smaller, Oh I thought bigger, 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:53.080 Well you can be a little smaller on the I 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:55.400 think the range is bigger. Okay, so you can be 0:04:55.440 --> 0:04:58.120 down in the twenties poundage wise, but up to the 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:02.640 seventies poundage wise, and you're probably a little bit longer, 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:06.440 and your skull and your tail are going to be narrower, 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:08.719 or your tail's narrower and your skull is smaller. 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:14.160 So yeah, but that tail is what everybody understands when 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.120 they see a beaver. Just like with a porcupine and 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:20.599 its quills, a beaver in its tail is they're just synonymous. 0:05:20.600 --> 0:05:23.400 Everybody recognizes a beaver because of its tail, and also 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:26.080 the tails help make it cute. Even though if you 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.320 zoomed in and took a really close look at the tail, 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:32.240 you'd be like gross. You think, yeah, it's scaly, it's 0:05:32.279 --> 0:05:36.360 got sparse, coarse hair associated with it. It looks like 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:39.720 a black jack that some old timy like ruffs would 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.960 beat you up with. And yet it's one of the 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.000 most amazing appendages any animal has as far as it's 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:48.839 like a Swiss Army knife foot for tails. 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:51.920 Yeah, they're very useful in a lot of ways. They 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:56.159 obviously if they're swimming, and beavers, by the way, can 0:05:56.240 --> 0:06:00.760 swim five to seven miles an hour. They have little 0:06:00.760 --> 0:06:03.640 web feet they have, they can close their ear holes 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.279 in their nose holes, and they can roll their film 0:06:06.360 --> 0:06:07.240 over their eyeballs. 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:08.880 Yeah, nictitating membrane. 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:12.440 Yeah, it's amazing. So if they're gonna be swimming, then 0:06:12.440 --> 0:06:16.719 that tail is gonna be acting as a rudder and 0:06:16.920 --> 0:06:21.360 as a propeller. It's also if they're on land, it's 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:23.320 gonna act as a little kickstand at times. 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.040 Yeah, when they stand up on their back legs, they 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.520 use their tail to kind of lean against the balance. 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:31.920 It's a big one for sure. They also, and this 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.320 is a sure sign that you have frightened slash upset 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:38.599 a beaver. They will slap the water with their tail 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:41.680 in part to frighten you away, to say like, don't 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:46.000 mess with me, but also to warn other beavers because, 0:06:46.480 --> 0:06:49.479 like you were saying, they're familial, they are actually fairly 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:53.400 social animals and they live in family units, so they 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:55.880 would want to warn like you know the wife and 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:58.599 the kids back at the lodge. 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:01.279 Yeah. And here's the thing. I spent a lot of 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:03.320 time at a lake here in Georgia, and I have 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:07.920 heard something which I thought was a beaver tail smash, 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:11.560 but I'm not sure because I didn't see it. I 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:16.760 have seen evidence of beaver eating tree stuff, oh yeah, yeah, 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:18.960 and which we'll get to. And one day when I 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:22.400 was in the lake, I saw a mammal's head coming 0:07:22.440 --> 0:07:25.240 toward me and I don't know if it was. We 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:27.000 also have river otter, so I don't know if it 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:30.240 was an otter or a beaver, but either way it 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.880 was it was a large head. And even though I 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:34.480 know that they weren't going to like come after me, 0:07:35.000 --> 0:07:38.320 when that thing pops under the water, You're just like, 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.880 where's he going, what's he doing? Where is he? Is 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:42.840 he coming at me or not? 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:44.640 Were you swimming in the lake at the time. 0:07:44.920 --> 0:07:46.360 Yeah, I was swimming in the lake and I saw 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.400 this large mammal head, you know, dumped under I could 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:51.200 feel you. And if it was I'm not sure how 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.720 long beavers can hold their or Otters can hold their breasts, 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:57.400 but beavers can hold their breath for about fifteen minutes, 0:07:57.480 --> 0:07:58.800 which is pretty remarkable. 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:01.560 I thought. I think remarkable too. I mean, it really 0:08:01.600 --> 0:08:03.960 just goes to show just how adapted they are for 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:07.200 life in the water. And they are mammals, so they 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:09.840 have lung so they need to breathe air outside of 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:12.160 the water. But yeah, the fact that they can hold 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.400 their breaths for fifteen minutes, that they have nictitating membranes 0:08:15.400 --> 0:08:17.920 that cover their eyes like little goggles so they can 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:22.160 see and work underwater. They spend a significant amount of 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:25.120 their time underwater. In fact, they're most protected in water. 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:27.600 That's where they can move the fastest. They can swim 0:08:27.640 --> 0:08:31.040 pretty fast, way faster than they can waddle on land. Sure, 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:35.240 and a lot of their predators won't necessarily come into, 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:38.480 especially deep water after them. So when they're in the water, 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:42.319 they're at their they're in their happy place most. 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:45.640 Yeah, and imagine when they dive for fifteen minutes and 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:48.959 are swimming around. What do you think those. 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.720 Fish think, Oh, here comes a beaver. 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:54.600 They do they know or are they just like, what 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:56.640 in the world is that big hairy thing? 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.880 I would guess that I would like to think they know. 0:09:01.960 --> 0:09:05.360 I like to think of communities of animals or ecosystems. 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:06.240 Just they know each other. 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:08.920 Yeah, they know each other. They know each other's foibles. 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:11.360 They've come to accept one another. You know, they have 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:14.280 their other things, but beaver foibles they always kind of 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:17.360 you know, they in the end that when somebody, you know, 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.199 like a human comes in and tries to screw things up, 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:23.000 they'll all band together and you know, raise money for 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:25.640 the community center so that the developer can't buy it. 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:31.320 So if you are North American beaver, you can live 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:35.360 pretty much anywhere in North America except for the desert. 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:38.599 Because you want water around, you're probably going to be 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:40.959 near pond or a lake, or a marsh or a 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:45.840 swamp or a river. Eurasian beavers used to live all 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:49.600 over Europe and Asia, but they were hunted over hunted 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:53.680 because at one point in time, wearing beaver pelts and 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:56.839 beaver hats was like a really high fashion. So now 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:02.240 they're only found in Germany, France, Poland, Scandinavia, Southern Scandinavia, 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:03.400 and Central Russia. 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.080 Yeah, and a lot of those are because they were 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.760 reintroduced to the areas, Like I believe Germany had to 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:12.600 have their population reintroduced because they were hunted to extinction 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:14.040 and how many. 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:15.959 Beavers used to be here, like four hundred million. 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.840 That's the estimate is that in North America prior to 0:10:20.080 --> 0:10:24.760 Colombian contact, that there were about four hundred million beavers 0:10:24.800 --> 0:10:28.080 and they were hunted down to near extinction within the 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:31.560 hundreds of thousands from what I saw, and were luckily 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.280 held back from the brink. And when I say luckily, 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:36.120 I don't just mean for the beavers, but I mean 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:40.680 for the planet as far as North America is concerned. 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:43.680 Because one of the things that we are still learning 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:46.559 but have come to realize, is that the beavers are 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:54.200 probably the most useful species on the planet because they're 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:57.560 one of the few species that alters their environment as 0:10:57.640 --> 0:10:58.760 radically as they do. 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:00.600 Yeah, what are they called. 0:11:01.600 --> 0:11:05.920 They're a keystone species species because when they are present, 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:09.600 biodiversity thrives, and when beavers are removed from an area, 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:14.920 biodiversity suffers. The presence of beavers makes life better and 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:19.840 richer for entirely other animals and species, just because of 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:21.600 what they do and how they do it. 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.560 All Right, that's a great place to take a break. 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:27.400 And I say, when we come back, we talk about 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:31.920 the two fundamental fulcrumbs on which beaver life is based. 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:33.400 The dam and the lodge. 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:59.160 Okay, stop, stop, all right, we're back. 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:01.160 And there are a couple of things. You know, you've 0:12:01.160 --> 0:12:04.280 heard busy as a beaver. Uh, it's it's I don't 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:07.120 know if that's proven, but I think it is almost 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:11.040 universally agreed that that phrase came about because beavers are, 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:14.440 in fact very busy, and they work, work, work all 0:12:14.520 --> 0:12:18.880 day long, building their homes and building dams. Their homes 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:22.600 are called lodges. And you've probably seen, if you've ever 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:24.839 been hiking and stuff in America, you've probably seen a 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:27.360 beaver lodge by a river, ear lake. It's a little 0:12:27.840 --> 0:12:31.199 little dome, a little hot out of sticks and grasses 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:32.960 and moss and mud. 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:35.319 Maybe you thought a local witch had built it. 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:38.160 Yeah, maybe it does look like a little Uh what 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:39.240 do you call witch's houses? 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.120 Witch's house? I think there's a cottage. 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:46.920 Oh sure, I think there's a different name. But I 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:48.880 thought so. Now I don't, I don't know. 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:50.320 I think so witch house. 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:52.920 Maybe I'm thinking of Coven's. 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:53.720 House a day witch. 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:57.640 No, there's a word. We just I just watched The 0:12:57.679 --> 0:12:59.679 Witch the movie again. I think there's a word for it. 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:02.000 Man, I love that. That might be my favorite movie. 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:04.440 We did a movie Crush Roundtable on that. By the way, 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:05.040 it was really good. 0:13:05.160 --> 0:13:06.600 It is a good And that's the guy who did 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:07.719 the Lighthouse, isn't it. 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:10.120 Yeah, Rob Potters, God bless that. 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.160 Man. I can't wait to see his biking movie too. 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:17.440 Oh man, I can't imagine. Okay, So the beaver lodge is, 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.959 you know, about eight feet wide a few feet high. 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:24.600 They're on the banks of these ponds or on lake shores. 0:13:25.760 --> 0:13:28.560 They have this is one of my favorite parts. Many 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:30.280 of them have a little underwater back door. 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:30.960 Yeah. 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:33.440 It's like sort of a ski in chalet if you're 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:34.080 snow skiing. 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:36.600 Yeah, which makes sense because again, they spend so much 0:13:36.600 --> 0:13:38.640 time in the water, but also it protects them from 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:42.120 terrestrial predators because they can get into the water and 0:13:42.200 --> 0:13:44.040 escape when a predators like at their door. 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:48.400 Yeah. And you know this is they're nocturnal, they don't hibernate, 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.920 but most of this action's going on at night, and 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:55.319 everyone pitches in the whole family. I don't think we 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:58.760 said yet. They live with their children till they're about two. 0:13:59.080 --> 0:14:01.520 And a beaver lodge you might find a mom and 0:14:01.559 --> 0:14:04.840 a dad who are monogamous mates for life, and they 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:08.120 might have their three two year old almost two year 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:11.160 old children, and then they might have their little grand babies. 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.240 Yeah, because when they have their their babies, which are 0:14:14.280 --> 0:14:17.040 called kits, which admittedly is not as cute a word 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:18.040 as porcupets. 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:19.440 No, but they're cute. 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:23.200 But dude, just baby for press pause right now, everybody, 0:14:23.200 --> 0:14:25.840 and go look up some baby beaver pictures, little tails. 0:14:26.840 --> 0:14:30.600 They're cute. So they have baby beavers. And one of 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:33.520 the reasons why they're so cute is because they stick 0:14:33.560 --> 0:14:36.280 around for so long, or they stick around so long 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:38.640 because they're so cute. That's what I mean to say. Yes, 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:41.320 but they do. They stay as part of the family 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:45.680 unit and help work on the family lodge and damn 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:48.640 until about two when they wander off, and then at 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:50.640 three they start to mate. But they build their own 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.200 lodge at age two, and from what I've read, it's 0:14:53.280 --> 0:14:57.000 usually very clumsy. It's not in the best place necessarily, 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.080 and so they kind of learn as they go. But 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.560 they also learn from their family unit first, which I 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:03.640 think is super cute. 0:15:04.200 --> 0:15:07.200 It is I think we should talk about dams though. 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:10.200 I mean, the lodges are are cool and it's a 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:12.760 great place to live if you're a beaver. But the 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:16.600 dams is where they really that's where they get their 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:20.600 shining moment as a species. That really helps out the 0:15:20.680 --> 0:15:23.360 environment because they help create these wetlands, don't they. 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.640 Yeah, So a beaver will move into an area that's 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:31.120 dry as a bone, that's maybe crop land, that's maybe timberland, 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:35.520 that is not at all flooded. There's no pond or 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:37.960 wetland or anything like that, and they say, this can 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:40.440 be better. And so they find like a source of 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:45.280 moving water like a stream or a brook, maybe a creek, 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.800 maybe a creek something like that, and they stop it up. 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:54.000 They build a dam, and they build this damp so 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:57.360 that the water backs up behind it and floods this 0:15:57.440 --> 0:16:00.720 area and turns it into a wetland. And they do 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:04.920 this not to irk humans or just for fun. They 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:09.360 do it because they're altering the ecosystem to better suit themselves. 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.640 Like I said, they survive much better when they're in 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:16.920 the water. They move faster, they can work faster. So 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:21.960 they actually make this ecosystem into an aquatic ecosystem where 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:25.040 before there wasn't an aquatic ecosystem. And they do it 0:16:25.080 --> 0:16:28.080 all by building this dam, and the way that they 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:30.640 build dams is magnificent in and of itself. 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:34.960 Yeah, so you know, you got your dam base, the 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:39.280 foundation basically where you're going to use mud and gravel 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:41.960 that you get from the stream, and you kind of 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.080 work together as a family and with your tail and 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.840 they're pushing I say, we're beaver's all of a sudden, 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:50.360 and you're pushing this mud and gravel up from the 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:51.200 bottom of the stream. 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:52.040 Yeah. 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:54.680 And if let's say it's a place where the creek 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:56.960 is running a little bit too fast and there's too 0:16:57.080 --> 0:16:59.720 much flow, they're going to say, you know what, We're 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:03.160 going to take these sticks. We're gonna pile these things 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:09.479 up all along the bottom until basically it's like building 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:12.040 from the ground up until they're strong enough to stay 0:17:12.040 --> 0:17:12.520 in place. 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:14.919 Right. But they're so good at using their hands, and 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:17.680 they're so strong. You said, you know, sixty sixty five 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:21.800 pounds or about thirty kilograms. They're mostly muscle too. They're 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:26.640 really strong little little rodents, especially for being like herbivores. 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:30.360 You know, they're like those vegan body builders. But they 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.879 can take they'll take sticks and like plant them in 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:37.879 the bottom of this stream or whatever and start forming 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:41.120 a lattice work that they weave in between and fill 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:44.520 up with mud to really stop up some you know, 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:49.440 fast moving current. That Like, that's the level of manipulation 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:52.239 that they're they're doing. They're they're building a dam that 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:57.160 they they eventually successfully back up the flow of water from. 0:17:57.720 --> 0:18:00.439 Yeah, which is I've tried to do that before, and 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:04.040 it's hard to do. Yeah. My buddy Scotty and I, 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:07.280 you know, we went camping once in California, and it 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:10.040 was when I was young in the film industry, so 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:12.200 there was a lot of time between jobs, and we 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:14.680 just decided to stay and keep staying, and I think 0:18:14.680 --> 0:18:17.280 we ended up staying for like eleven or twelve days wow. 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:21.640 And we wanted to build a waterfall next to our campsite, 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:24.639 so it sounded better. So we spent days and days 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:27.879 with sticks and big rocks and trying to reroute and 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:30.919 change the river. And it was some of the hardest 0:18:30.960 --> 0:18:32.480 work I've ever done. 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:36.399 Imagine doing that at like forty eight inches long and 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:38.040 only sixty five pounds. 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:40.840 Yeah. So they're not only building this thing up, they 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.960 got their little kits and their children helping, like bringing 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:48.240 up sticks and mud saying paw mas is okay, and 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:51.240 they say, yeah, add it to the pile. And then 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:56.640 once they're done, they like, there's a periodic like inspections 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:58.720 that go on, Yeah, because they got to make sure 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.760 that it stays strong, because that current just keeps going 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:04.480 and it's very easy to wiggle the right stick loose 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:06.439 and all of a sudden it starts crumbling down. So 0:19:06.480 --> 0:19:10.000 they basically inspect these things every so often and check 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.280 it for leaks and bring in mud and patch it up, 0:19:12.680 --> 0:19:14.720 just like it's like a human might do. 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:17.679 Oh, I saw that they do daily maintenance on it. 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:20.359 That one way to tell whether beavers are in the 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:24.000 area is to find their dam, make it like a 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:26.399 little miner hole in it, and then go back and 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:28.280 look the next day, and if it's patched up, the 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.480 beavers are around there and giving you the middle finger 0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:34.600 right exactly like okay, yeah we're here, you've figured it out, 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.960 Please leave our dam alone. But yeah, these things are 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.440 like water tight for the most part, or they allow 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:43.720 very little water through, or I guess from what I 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.120 can tell, as much water as the beaver wants through. 0:19:46.160 --> 0:19:51.359 Like they're very willfully deliberately constructed structures. That will turn 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:55.560 a dry area into a wetland. And when that happens, 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:57.960 one of the things that they used to build the 0:19:57.960 --> 0:20:00.760 stuff with their trees around the area, they can they 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:05.720 use their teeth, those really really sharp, strong teeth that 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:09.400 I said are like kind of orangish at the very 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.439 beginning of the episode, and they're very they're orange because 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:15.160 they have so much iron in them, which actually gives 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:16.560 them that much more strength. 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:21.680 Yeah, they're up to an inch long. They're super strong. 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:26.280 They they actually sharpen as they gnaw on trees, so 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:28.960 it's not like it'll dull their teeth out. It actually 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:31.560 sharpens them. And the other thing they're doing is they're 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:35.080 eating that tree. They're one of the few mammals that 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:37.919 are maybe the only mammal that can actually digest cellulose. 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:41.400 Well, porcupines can too, remember, Oh that's right, Yeah, they can. 0:20:41.440 --> 0:20:43.920 They can digest cellulos because they probably have a very 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:47.080 similar kind of bacteria that helps them helps digest it 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:50.200 for them. But they digest a lot of the cellulos 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.160 that they eat, and it's really hard to break down 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:53.440 normally for mammals though. 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:56.080 Yeah, but like you know, you said, they're essentially creating 0:20:56.160 --> 0:20:59.960 these wetlands. They're preventing erosion, they are helping to pure 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:00.680 the water. 0:21:00.920 --> 0:21:03.840 Oh, let's talk about what the dams can do. Okay, Chuck. 0:21:04.240 --> 0:21:08.160 I mean it's amazing there. It's like a little environmental 0:21:09.760 --> 0:21:12.080 coalition that goes into the woods to make things better. 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:14.480 Yeah. So I think in the Wetlands episode, I said 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:18.399