WEBVTT - The Remarkable Beaver, Part 2 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:07.520 Hey, you welcome to Stuff to. 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:08.160 Blow your Mind. 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:09.680 My name is Robert Lamb. 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:12.680 And I am Joe McCormick, and it's Saturday. Time to 0:00:12.720 --> 0:00:15.440 go into the vault for an older episode of the show. 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:20.000 This one today is from May eighteenth, twenty twenty three, 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:22.800 and it's part two of our series on the Beaver, 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:28.520 a thrilling, strange, wonderful animal far more amazing and bizarre 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.479 than you might have thought. Can your heart stand the 0:00:31.480 --> 0:00:32.480 shocking facts? 0:00:33.520 --> 0:00:34.680 All right, let's dive right in. 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:41.680 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:47.880 --> 0:00:49.800 Hey you, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. My 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:50.760 name is Robert. 0:00:50.520 --> 0:00:53.800 Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and today we are back 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:56.480 with part two of our series on the Beaver. 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:59.520 Yeah. In the last episode, we hopefully gave you a newfound, 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:04.800 improved and reinvigorated appreciation for the common beaver, the world's 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:08.920 second largest living rodent and a tireless ecosystem engineer. 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.119 That's right. Last time we focused mainly on the real 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:16.560 life biology, behavior, and ecological role of the beaver, So 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:18.840 if you haven't listened to part one, you should probably 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:20.600 go back and check that one out first. I think 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:23.440 that will give you a richer understanding of the stuff 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:25.200 we're going to be talking about today. But for a 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:29.240 very brief recap, Yeah, beavers are large. They're the second 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:33.600 largest extant rodent after the capybara. Beavers have iron in 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:36.320 their teeth, perfect for chewing through wood to cut down 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:39.920 trees and for gnawing off pieces of vegetation. Beavers of 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:44.720 course eat vegetation their herbivores, and their diet includes foliage 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.840 but also the bark and the outer layers of soft 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:51.639 wood from tree branches and trunks. Beavers of course build 0:01:51.640 --> 0:01:56.320 amazing structures. They dam waterways to change the characteristics of 0:01:56.360 --> 0:02:01.120 flowing waterways to sort of like create ponds, redirect water flow, 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:04.680 and so forth to deepen water channels. And they also 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:09.760 build these essentially impenetrable lodges with underwater entrances and exits 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:13.040 for their own housing and protection. And these constructions also 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:16.880 allow underwater storage of caches of vegetation to provide food 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:20.600 throughout the winter. And then finally, we discussed several studies 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:23.600 of what might or might not be considered tool use 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:26.320 in beavers. This was a lot of fun, including we 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:29.400 had a long digression on the so called stick displays 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:33.440 where some beavers in particular populations is not common to 0:02:33.440 --> 0:02:36.840 all beavers of either of the extant species, but this 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:41.400 was documented among some Eurasian beavers in Norway. They would 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:43.880 pick up a stick and they would shake it, shake 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:45.480 it up and down while holding it in the mouth 0:02:45.520 --> 0:02:50.280 and forepaws. The researchers believed this was to demonstrate strength 0:02:50.320 --> 0:02:54.880 in order to drive away potential antagonists, maybe other beavers 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:58.120 encroaching onto their territory. And of course we ended up 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:03.240 highlighting the most impressed of the stick shaking beaver's a beautiful, 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.880 powerful warrior of the wasteland named Beergit. 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:09.600 Yes her name, I had to look this up. Her 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:13.639 name and apparently means power, strength, vigor, and virtue. I 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:17.280 mean the other beaver in that study that's not as 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.880 as impressive the second place shake. The second place was Froda. 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:25.640 Frodo's name means clever, learned, and wise. And this is also, 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:28.480 like I said, this is related to Frodo, Like Frodo 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.040 is like a variation of this name that Tolkien used 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:32.040 in the Lord of the Rings. 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:36.920 That makes sense. Yeah. However, while the real life biology 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:40.480 of the beaver is truly fascinating. What actually first got 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:44.600 us interested in this topic was something you came across, 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:49.320 rob which was the pattern of deeply off the mark 0:03:49.440 --> 0:03:54.480 illustrations of beaver's in medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, just so 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:58.480 far off the mark in depicting this animal. You wonder 0:03:58.520 --> 0:03:59.360 how it happened. 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:01.520 Yeah, we got into a little bit and discussed how 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:03.640 we have to take into account that when we do 0:04:03.760 --> 0:04:07.200 have one variety of beavers in North America and the 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:10.480 other variety in Eurasia, you know, not everyone would have 0:04:10.480 --> 0:04:12.560 had direct exposure to it. You have that game of 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:16.560 telephone taking place about these species depending on illustrations and 0:04:16.600 --> 0:04:19.120 second and third hand accounts. Then there's the added fact 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:23.880 that beavers are largely nocturnal. They live out often in 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:29.200 very remote circumstances, so the average even observer may not 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.720 get to observe them that closely. And then, as we'll 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:35.800 discuss in this episode, even more, there are additional elements 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:40.520 of their physiology that may mystify someone who is observing 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:42.760 them in the wild or trying to make sense of 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:46.320 their bodies as the carcass is processed. 0:04:46.680 --> 0:04:49.880 Yeah, another thing, though, is that the Eurasian beaver was 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:53.520 once hunted near to extinction. Its populations have bounced back 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:58.600 significantly since then, since the twentieth century, but it came 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:01.680 kind of close for the Eurasian, like the hunter has 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:03.159 really got over on them for a while. 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:06.640 Yeah. North American beavers were also in bad shape, and 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.160 two of the main drivers for this. One of them 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:13.240 is beaver hats in beaver fur. I'm to understand that 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.760 the beaver hat going out of style helped out a lot, 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:22.160 but there's another major beaver product, beaver derived product we're 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:27.600 going to discuss in this episode that also threatened these species. 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.040 So yeah, these are going to be important, especially when 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:34.919 we talk about a particular detail of various bestiaries and 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:40.159 illuminated manuscripts that show beavers or alleged beavers. Some of 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.760 these are very strange beaver. They look more like a 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.400 deer or a dog, or a lion or you name it. 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.600 But at any rate, the main perplexing detail is that 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:51.880 they are depicted chewing off their own testicles whilst being 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:53.239 pursued by a human hunter. 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.200 I thought we should mention and describe a few of 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:01.440 these actual illustrations and the manuscripts they come from. So 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:05.040 I came across a post about this on the British 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:08.880 Library's Medieval Manuscript's blog. I love the British Library's blogs, 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:12.359 by the way, they often are wonderful resource. But this 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:17.120 post is from November seventh, twenty twelve. It's called Beaver's 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.120 on the Run by Nicole Eddie, and it includes a 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:23.440 number of illustrations, a couple that we alluded to at 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:25.600 the beginning of part one of this series, and several 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.560 that I think we haven't talked about yet, but none 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:31.320 of which have we featured in detail. So the author 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:34.400 of this blog post says you can usually recognize a 0:06:34.400 --> 0:06:38.640 beaver in a medieval bestiary, which seemed at first like 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:42.040 a very odd statement, because most of these drawings look 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:46.080 absolutely nothing like the real animal, not even a little, 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.960 But she goes on to explain you can recognize them 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.359 because they are always depicted the same way in a 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:58.920 characteristic or stereotyped scene quote on the run, pursued by 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:02.479 a hunter who is frequently blowing a horn and accompanied 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:06.320 by hunting dogs. And just as you said, Rob, we 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.120 can add to that image the fact that they are 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:14.200 often depicted either discarding or in the middle of biting 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:18.200 off their own testicles while in hot pursuit several examples. 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.600 Let's start with one we briefly alluded to in Part one. 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:26.400 So this is a miniature from a Latin bestiary originating 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:29.240 in England from the second or third quarter of the 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:33.080 thirteenth century. The manuscript is known as Sloane thirty five 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:36.040 forty four. So what we see in a miniature with 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.480 the Latin text all around is a sort of rectangle 0:07:39.480 --> 0:07:43.320 of red background decorated with these three leaf clover shapes. 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.280 And then we have what appears to be some kind 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:50.000 of big cat, maybe a mountain lion. Compared to the 0:07:50.120 --> 0:07:53.160 human and the dog in this drawing, it is about 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:57.360 the size of a horse. Also, it has a horse's tail. 0:07:57.480 --> 0:07:59.360 Did you notice that has like a hairtail? 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.080 This does not even look like a fish tail. As 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:05.480 we mentioned before some depictions of beavers, they often have 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.200 almost like a mermaid quality to them. 0:08:08.440 --> 0:08:11.240 Of course, beavers do have interesting unusual tails. They have 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:13.960 the flat tail, which aids them in swimming, but they 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.679 also use for a type of signaling known as water slapping, 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:19.760 where they slap the surface of the water to make 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:22.680 loud sounds, and this is use for social reasons to 0:08:22.720 --> 0:08:26.520 signal to the other beavers around them that may be 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:29.680 a predator or a rival beaver from outside the family 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:31.280 group is approaching their territory. 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:35.199 I will say this about this particular quote unquote beaver. 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:39.120 The posture here with feet back, rear feet on the ground, 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:43.560 front feet elevated, and this tail as horsey as it looks, 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:47.440 it is kind of going down and out, which is 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:51.640 at least vaguely reminiscent of the way that beavers will 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:55.280 often walk if they're carrying something, you know, with that 0:08:55.520 --> 0:08:58.520 tail helping them to balance and their front legs are 0:08:58.640 --> 0:08:59.960 up helping to carry something. 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.760 That would be fortunate if that was the artist's intention. 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:05.479 But I think what's being shown here is a horsehair 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:09.199 styled tail like flapping in the wind as the beaver runs. 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:13.120 If it were not for the vulgar air as we'll 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.600 discuss regarding the eating of the testicles or the biting 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:18.880 of the testicles here, this is otherwise, I think a 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.160 beautiful image. I like the use of the like the red, 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:23.040 like the deep crimson behind it. 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:26.040 Oh but wait, we didn't get to the animal's head yet. 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:29.760 So it's got horse sized body, horse looking tail, but 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:33.680 with feline paws and an approximately leonine head like a 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.600 mountain lion's head, but also with a snake neck. It's 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:40.559 kind of a dragon like. The neck is curving around 0:09:41.200 --> 0:09:44.720 and it appears to be covered in maybe feathers or scales, 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.760 and the neck is curving all the way around for 0:09:47.880 --> 0:09:51.360 the head to reach back and yes, bite its own testicles. 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:54.000 While the beast is in mid spring, it's leaping through 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:57.920 the air and biting while it's aloft, it's its front 0:09:57.960 --> 0:09:59.079 paws are off the ground. 0:09:59.400 --> 0:10:02.080 It is range ima, chef. You had no background on this, 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.040 you would just think this is a fantastic creature. 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:08.720 Yeah. Meanwhile, the hunting dog is after it, of course, 0:10:08.880 --> 0:10:11.640 sort of barking, pulling. Maybe is that a leashure? I 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:14.840 can't quite tell, But there's a hunter also a dude 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.760 standing there looking kind of like a hungover George Washington, 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.439 and he is blowing an upturned hunter's horn. 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:23.480 Yeah. All the eyes in this image look kind of bloodshot, 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:26.600 which adds an interesting effect to it. 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.160 Okay, next image for us to discuss. This is from 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:33.960 a work known as the Rochester Bestiary from England around 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:38.360 the year twelve thirty, in a manuscript called Royal twelve f. 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.040 This one is a lot more colorful. Here, the hunt 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:44.360 takes place on a green hill with a golden sky 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:48.079 in the background and trees that look like asparagus. The 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.880 hunter has blonde surfer hair and wears a blue tunic. 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:54.480 He really does. It's kind of surfery, isn't it. It's 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:58.960 kind of Owen Wilson hair. Yeah, and he's blowing his horn. 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:01.880 He's carrying either a sword or a club of some 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.280 kind in the other hand from the horn. The dogs 0:11:04.320 --> 0:11:07.240 are howling in pursuit. The beaver is once again sort 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:10.880 of a serpentine lion, with the long scaly neck twisting 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:13.920 all the way back around biting off the genitalia, but 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:16.880 with a different face this time. The beaver's face here 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:19.560 is kind of sad and porky, like a like a 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.360 lion pig muttering geez not again. 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:26.640 Yeah, this is another strange one where the beaver looks 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.800 more like a camel or perhaps you know, some variation 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:30.960 of prehistoric mammal. 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:34.560 Yeah, now I want to get into some ones that 0:11:34.640 --> 0:11:38.920 have more differences. The next one has actually no testicle biting. 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:43.360 This is from an herbal medicine manual called Tractatus de 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:47.520 Herbis from Salerno, which is in Italy, produced between twelve 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:51.400 eighty and thirteen ten. The manuscript is called Egerton seven 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:56.240 forty seven. Here the hunter is a wizard. That interesting. 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:59.560 He's wearing a pointy wizard hat, and he has huge hands, 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:01.600 one of which which is like up in front of 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:04.559 his face, almost as if he's marveling at the hand, 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.000 like how did my hand get this way? What has 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:07.680 become of me? 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:10.800 Yeah? This image has a kind of childlike wonder to it, 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:13.839 especially when we're describing the beaver. 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.280 That's right, right, So, yeah, the wizard hunter has gigantic 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:19.680 hands bigger than his head. He's got his horns slung 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:23.079 around his shoulder. He's about to heave a spear. Interesting, 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:26.760 I guess there was spear hunting of beavers maybe, But 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:29.160 he's got a spear like cocked back ready to throw it. 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.200 And then the hunter, the dogs, and the beaver are 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.520 all standing in what looks like a field of spinach plants. 0:12:35.679 --> 0:12:38.680 Like there are these green forking plants interspursed all around. 0:12:38.920 --> 0:12:40.480 I don't know if that's supposed to be the kind 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:45.240 of vegetation growing in the landscape that has been altered 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:48.600 by the proximity of a beaver dam. And then one 0:12:48.640 --> 0:12:52.960 of the dogs is gigantic and the other is not 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:56.560 that gigantic. And then the beaver is a horse, and 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:58.440 I mean, I mean that it's not like a horse. 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:00.520 The beaver is a horse. It's just horse. 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:05.199 Yeah, a kind of shaggy looking horse with I believe 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:06.239 visible testicles. 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:09.840 Oh yeah, not just visible. They're sort of in bold 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.840 compared to the rest of the illustration. Do you know 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:16.040 what I'm saying. Yeah, Yeah, they're like filled in a 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:19.679 darker color than anything else. So the beaver horse is 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:23.280 not biting them off, but they're just like they're very 0:13:23.320 --> 0:13:26.320 prominent and they're almost perfectly centered in the illustration. 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:29.520 Yeah, maybe the dogs got to him before he could, 0:13:30.240 --> 0:13:32.960 in this narrative get rid of them. 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:35.280 Okay, This next one I thought was really funny. This 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:37.920 is from another English best year a twelfth century, in 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:41.800 a manuscript called Stowe ten sixty seven. It's not fully colored, 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:45.040 in just a line drawing. The hunter looks like he's 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:48.880 dancing kind of. He looks, you know, jolly, like he's moving, 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:52.240 he's feeling the rhythm, and he's blowing his horn and 0:13:52.280 --> 0:13:55.400 pointing a single finger at the beaver with his one hand. 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:57.400 You see the pointing hand. I don't know why. That 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:01.760 was really funny to me. But the beaver, meanwhile, is 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:04.640 a dog. It's just fully a dog, but with one 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:10.600 major variation with weird bulbous eye sockets bulging out of 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:13.200 his head over the snout. And we were trying to 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.360 figure out which Star Wars alien this dog looked like. 0:14:16.480 --> 0:14:19.520 I eventually realized I was sort of thinking, it looks 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:23.400 like the dog version of the Zando Zan assassin from 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:24.560 the Last Starfighter. 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:28.520 Yeah, yeah, I can see that, and I took a 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:31.120 I was like, something was about this was ringing Star 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:33.440 Wars for me as well. So I had the best 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:35.760 ares some of a couple of Star Wars best areas 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:39.480 out anyway for the monster fact I'm working on for 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.120 this week. So I was like, what is it reminding 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:44.440 me of? And I think it's reminded me of of 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:49.000 Issue tib. This is a strange kind of avian or 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:52.840 beaked looking creature that's in the background at Jaba's palace, 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:57.440 but has also subsequently been used in like comics and 0:14:57.440 --> 0:14:59.040 on the Clone Wars and stuff like that. 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:00.920 This was one of the those where you showed me 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:02.800 an image and I was like, oh, I have seen 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.440 this before, but I can't remember from where. It's really 0:15:05.520 --> 0:15:07.560 kind of in the background, but yeah, Isshu tub is 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:10.200 like in Return of the Jedi, the I found a 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:13.640 shot of him like back sort of behind Luke's head 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:15.640 while Luke is pointing a blaster at Jaba. 0:15:16.120 --> 0:15:19.400 He's not, in my opinion, one of the more interesting 0:15:19.480 --> 0:15:23.800 Jaba's Palace aliens. Like I didn't have him as a figure, 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:27.480 which maybe that's because I didn't find him interesting, or 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:29.040 maybe I don't find him interesting because I don't have 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:29.920 the connection with the toy. 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:32.680 Well, anyway, do you get back to the beaver in 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:36.360 this drawing, which again is just a dog. It's interesting 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:40.560 because he's not biting his testicles here, they're floating in 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.200 the air behind him, as if the alien dog beaver 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:48.400 has sort of projectile defecated them in the hunter's direction. 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.200 You see, they're like a floating four leaf clover in 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:51.640 the air. 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:55.960 The four leafed aspect of the testicle is interesting, and 0:15:56.000 --> 0:15:58.080 I think that will be of note when we get 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:02.680 into the actual anatomy of the lower regions of the beaver. 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.080 Now, the examples don't stop there. We could go on 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:07.880 naming many more, but I think you get the idea. 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:10.160 There was one thing I just wanted to mention further 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:14.280 because it's kind of interesting variation, and that's an illustration 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:17.520 of a beaver hunt from the Queen Mary Salter, an 0:16:17.520 --> 0:16:23.000 early fourteenth century manuscript called Royal two B. And in 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.920 this one, the beaver again looks nothing like a beaver, 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:28.480 but in a different way. This time it's just a fox. 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.720 It's yeah, would you say it looks like a gray fox? 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:33.160 Yeah, it looks like a fox. 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:36.480 The hunter approaches with an axe propped up on his shoulder, 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:41.400 and the beaver lies on his back, exposing his belly. Interesting. 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:47.440 Apparently this was another common motif in these medieval illustrations 0:16:47.440 --> 0:16:51.840 of beavers, in addition to beaver's biting off their own testicles. Allegedly, 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:53.760 this would happen they would lie on their back and 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:58.000 expose their belly after they had previously bitten them off, 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:01.080 or after they had been harvested by a previous hunter 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:04.159 and the beaver had survived. So the beaver here is 0:17:04.200 --> 0:17:07.320 revealing I haven't got what you're looking for. And then 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.639 the hunter in this image, the hunter does look kind 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.359 of annoyed. Doesn't he He's like, ah, what for real? 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:16.680 He does these guys hand up like ah, man chase 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:20.199 this critter down in the woods and it doesn't have 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:21.000 the goods anymore. 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:23.840 But in the medieval lore of beaver hunts, the idea 0:17:23.960 --> 0:17:26.200 was that the beaver is clever. It knows what the 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.439 hunter is looking for, and the beaver is thinking, oh, 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:29.960 if I can show off that I don't have what 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:31.359 the hunter needs, it won't kill me. 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:33.960 Yeah. Now, this is going to be interesting to reflect 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:36.679 on it in a bit. When we talk about beaver aggression, 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:42.040 I can only imagine that this idea of the cornered 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:48.600 beaver being a docile creature, yes, is an extreme exaggeration 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:49.680 and inaccuracy. 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:52.800 So this imagery is obviously a lot of fun. But 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.760 rob would you, I think it's safe to say, I 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:59.919 hope you'll agree that the chomping, off, dropping, shooting, projectile, 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:04.800 pooping of testicles, none of this reflects any biological reality. 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:08.320 This is not something beavers actually do, or ever actually did. 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:12.239 Correct. Yeah, this is, as we'll discuss in a bit. 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:17.200 It's referred to as the vulgar error. At times, the 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:22.480 error is based on some definite biological realities. Concerning the beaver. 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:25.760 But they did not do this. Yeah, this is not 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:28.800 something they did. This is not something I think any 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:33.080 animal does. So before we get into exactly why, though, 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.040 we have to talk about what they were after with 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:39.160 all of this. They were after castorium. 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:41.240 The hunters were Yes, the hunters were. 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:45.520 After castorium, a product derived from beavers. I believe we 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:48.560 mentioned this briefly in the last episode. But the basic 0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:52.520 reality here is beavers keep their hide waterproof via oily 0:18:52.640 --> 0:18:56.800 secretions from their cast or glands. Each beaver, male or 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.600 female has a pair of these along with a pair 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:04.160 of glands. So so far castor glands anal glands, one 0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:07.159 pair of each. This alone makes me think back to 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:11.679 that sort of four clothed testicle that has dropped in 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:16.040 one of those eliminated manuscript details we were discussing. 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.840 Yeah, that's the four sac that's being chucked at the hunter. 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:23.879 Yeah. Now I found a great article of great short 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:28.040 but detailed article with illustrations about the glands of the beaver. 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:32.160 This is from nineteen seventy eight by Gerald E. Svenson, 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:36.879 and it's titled castor and anal Glands of the Beaver 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:40.200 and was published in the Journal of Mammalogy, and it's 0:19:40.240 --> 0:19:43.080 on jay Store. It's free to access. If you really 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:44.760 want to go in depth on this and see the 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:50.359 very helpful illustrations, I definitely recommend it. But the author 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:55.000 here says, quote, these glands liberate odoriferous products that may 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:58.239 be used in the construction of scent mounts and in 0:19:58.480 --> 0:19:59.640 scent communication. 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:02.760 This will sort of connect to what we talked about 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:06.280 in the previous episode about the territoriality observed in the 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:09.919 Eurasian beavers, where a family group would build a lodge 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:11.840 in a dam and it would sort of police the 0:20:11.880 --> 0:20:15.880 borders of its area to keep rivals out, and one 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.360 of the things it would do in order to indicate 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:22.080 the borders of its area is do scent marking. And 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:27.600 often it was observed that along with the stick shaking behavior, 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.919 when a beaver felt its territory might be being encroached on 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:34.520 by another beaver from outside the group, it would engage 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.920 in additional scent marking. It would start to mark either 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:39.760 with anal glands or castorium. 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:40.679 Yeah. 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:44.640 So both anal and castor glands are in a cavity 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:48.040 that the author here describes as being similar to a scrotum, 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.679 and it quote testes lie anterior to the glands in 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:55.399 the distal region of the nguin Old canal. The testes 0:20:55.720 --> 0:21:00.080 protrude into the gland cavity in sexually mature males that 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:03.560 are separated from the glands by tissue of the terminal 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:07.560 end of the Ingenol canal and the lining of the 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:12.520 gland cavity. Okay, I realize that's a lot and joe 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:16.679 for you. Anyway, I included an illustration from this paper 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:18.760 that I think makes a little more sense of this. 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:21.960 This is one of two illustrations that the author provides 0:21:22.480 --> 0:21:25.119 and a reminder. We're very much in the kloaca here. 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:27.760 Right, So in the back of the beaver, sort of 0:21:27.760 --> 0:21:31.359 between the tail and the hind legs, we have the 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:35.960 gland cavity and it contains these different organs, the anal 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:37.600 gland and the castor gland. 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:42.720 Yes, now, he points out that anal glands are posterior 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:47.760 to the castor glands, and each gland opens independently via ducts. 0:21:48.200 --> 0:21:53.280 So the castor glands, however, don't open directly to the outside. Instead, 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:56.480 they hook up to the urethra and open into the 0:21:56.520 --> 0:22:00.480 beaver's cloaca. However, imagine this will be key to what 0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:04.919 we're discussing here. Quote. Contraction of the muscle sheath also 0:22:05.160 --> 0:22:10.040 forces the papillary end of the anal gland to protrude 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:13.639 from the kloeca. I do not think the same is 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:16.560 true of the castor glands proper, but again I'm thinking 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:18.760 of some of that basically getting back to this idea 0:22:19.240 --> 0:22:23.720 of glands something like testicles, or they could be seen 0:22:23.760 --> 0:22:27.640 as testicles emerging from the cloaca of the beaver, and 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:31.439 then it's not there again, you know. Common feature of 0:22:31.480 --> 0:22:36.320