Beavers

Alex Re (00:00): Hello, welcome to On Wildlife. I'm your host Alex Re. On this podcast, we bring the wild to you. We take you on a journey into the life of a different animal every week, and I guarantee you, you're going to come out of here knowing more about your favorite animal than you did before. This week. We're talking about one of the most unique animals in all of North America. They have huge teeth, but they're not meant for taking down prey. They also have large tails that have evolved to be extremely useful for a multitude of reasons. And I had the pleasure of talking to Adam Burnett, who knows all about these awesome animals. So watch out for falling trees because we're going to be talking about beavers.

(01:01): Beavers are the largest rodents in North America, but they can also be found in parts of Europe and Asia. They can grow to be around two and a half feet long, and some individuals can weigh over a hundred pounds. Beavers can usually be found near freshwater ecosystems like rivers and lakes, and this is because they have an innate urge to build dams. But we'll talk about those later on in the episode. Now, these are extremely special animals, and I can't wait for Adam to tell you all about them, but first he's going to tell you a little bit about himself and why he started working with beavers.

Adam Burnett (01:41): Unlike a lot of folks you have on the show, I am not a biologist or a scientist. My background is in the arts. I was a playwright and director who led a theater company for about a dozen years, and in the midst of that, learned how to build and sustain nonprofits and found myself in the beaver world, which I've discovered a lot of people have come into the beaver world from non-traditional paths. But on my end, I mostly wrote plays that dealt with issues dealing with ecological, geological, and environmental issues, plays about coyote extrication, a play told through the perspective of a dying lake play about mammoths and de-extinction. But I got kind of exhausted by the course of nodding heads in the theater, not taking action. And so this kind of led me on a journey into the environmental sector. And eventually to this role, I became interested in beavers in March of 2020, right at the top of the pandemic, I left New York City and returned to some farmland that was in my family, and there was a beaver problem on the property.

(02:39): We had a pond where the beavers had dammed up the pipe leading to the next farmer's property and the water wasn't flowing. So the farmers in the area, they had two solutions that they thought were the only options which were removal or murdering the beavers. And I said, there's got to be a better solution than this. And this led on a path that I became a little bit obsessive and learned how to install these flow devices, which are low cost and effective interventions made of pipe and fencing so that the waters can flow and the beavers can remain in place continuing to do their thing. And the institution that I went to learn how to do this was the Beaver Institute. I went to the website and learned how to do this work, and cut forward to a few years later, they had a position open as the executive director and I applied, and now here I am.

Alex Re (03:30): That just goes to show you that when you don't think there's any other alternative to a problem, you just may not have thought of it yet the devices that Adam implemented into the water were able to help keep the water flowing, but also didn't cause any harm to the beavers. Adam is also the director at the Beaver Institute, so let's hear him talk a little bit more about that organization.

Adam Burnett (03:54): So the Beaver Institute is a national nonprofit working at the intersection of beaver and human conflict mitigation, wetland restoration, and climate resilience. We were founded by Mike Callahan, who also came to beavers from a different field. He was a physician assistant for 20 years, and likewise as similar to my story, he suddenly realized, wow, these animals are incredible and they need to remain in the landscape. And he started working on installing these flow devices and he has his own business doing that. And if five years ago recognize that if people are trained in this conflict mitigation, then there can be more beavers and the climate can restore itself based on just their presence. So we're looking to conserve beaver populations toward the mutual benefit of all living things. Our core program is called Beaver Corps, which is sort of a civilian core program like AmeriCorps or Peace Corps, where we train people to be beaver and wetland professionals mitigating these conflicts that humans may have with beavers by installing flow devices.

(05:02): Another thing that Beaver Institute does is we host a biennial conference called Beaver Con, which brings together scientists, wetland, restoration experts, policymakers, and beaver enthusiasts, which there are a lot of, it's a whole world. So the wonderful thing that we do with this conference is we make every single presentation available free on our YouTube, which is the Beaver Institute YouTube. And as someone who's not a scientist, I learn so much from this conference and I continue to learn so much every day. So if you're interested in beavers more after this podcast, go and listen to these presentations at the conference because they're really, really amazing.

Alex Re (05:39): That's awesome. And I just might become a beaver enthusiast myself and have to come to Beaver Con. That sounds amazing.

Adam Burnett (05:46): Please do. You are welcome. It's a very inviting and lovely community that as someone relatively new to this, it's heartening to know that everyone doing this work, and there are multiple nonprofits working in beaver restoration and wetland restoration, and it's like a family that I never knew I had. So it's pretty amazing.

Alex Re (06:10): Yeah, definitely. And these are such important animals and important ecosystems that were trying to save, and we'll get more into that later on in the interview, but absolutely. So beavers are interesting looking animals. What are some of their closest relatives?

Adam Burnett (06:26): So first, there are two species of beavers. There's a North American beaver castor canadensis, and the Eurasian beaver castor fiber.

Alex Re (06:35): And beavers are a part of the order rodent, which includes chipmunks, mice, squirrels, muskrats, and more.

Adam Burnett (06:42): Beavers and muskrats often live together, so muskrats will live in the lodge with beavers. So there's this beautiful sort of coexistence between species. So just like coyotes and badgers who hunt together, beavers and muskrat have this harmonious sort of coexistence. And I always love that intersection when you have these two animals that you don't think would live in harmony together, like working together. It's amazing.

Alex Re (07:09): That's so cool. And many people associate beavers with wood. Do they eat the wood and what do they do with the wood that they chew on?

Adam Burnett (07:18): Yeah, beavers are herbivores. So they mostly subsist on plants, twigs and the bark of trees. They don't really eat the innards, so that's why they're not really eating the energy of the trees, but they are eating that nice tasty bark on the outside. And the trees that they typically like are willow, aspen, birch and oak. But I've seen them chew on cedar and pine because basically what they're doing, they're utilizing these trees as tools. So they chew these down and they'll build their lodge where they live out of this as well as their dams, and often they'll build up sort of a reservoir or a cache in the ponds. You'll see often the ponds a big pile of trees that they keep for winter and other times just so that they have enough to continue building year round, even though they do tend to be a little less winner, they keep that pile there so they know that they have enough for the work they want to do because they are workers, they are hard workers.

Alex Re (08:18): The way they build their dams is pretty amazing. And also it's really unique to all other animals in the world.

Adam Burnett (08:25): I mean, just watching them gather these materials, when you look at videos and you see them building these dams piling up the mud, putting the trees in, I mean, it's absolutely astounding. And you're right, there's no animal that gets up to the work that beaver does.

Alex Re (08:42): And what's the purpose of the dams that they build?

Adam Burnett (08:46): So the dam building is what prompts folks to refer to Biebers as a bit obsessive. This is built into their n a. When they hear running water, they just can't help themselves. They have to dam. So they build these dams, they mentioned out of mud, the clay and the soil, twigs trees, and increasingly sort of like birds that build their nest out of human-made detritus using plastic tires, whatever is available and can fit into stopping that water. So the dams they built, rivers and streams are not only beneficial to them and a necessity for them, but they're incredibly valuable to the entire ecosystem. And this is one of those things that beavers aren't, they're not totally, they're not conscious of this, right? But just by being beavers and doing what they do, it provokes this spiral effect throughout the environment. So by building a dam, it allows the water to soak, store, filter and expand.

(09:43): The water spreads out across the floodplain, filling in meadows with water and nutrient rich silt that invigorates plant growth. So we can think of these wetlands as sort of a ground zero for biodiversity, and this creates a space for a variety of species to coexist. Turtles, heron, moose, frogs, dragonflies, muskrats. Just by being in the ecosystem, beavers create a rich biodiverse environment. So in tandem with this dam building, beavers burrow into the ground. So they create these channels that then connects ponds to streams and rivers and vice versa. So in tandem with their dam building, this soaking and storing also creates a space that halts fires. So what we're seeing a lot of, and there's a really amazing individual, Dr. Emily Fairfax, who's been doing a lot of work on this about mega fires and how you'll see within the floodplain that as these fires go down to where beavers are, it just stops and it stops before it gets to the water because the water is going out.

(10:45): And these channels are creating space where these plants are holding onto the moisture for longer. So this soaking is making it so that the soil and the plants are stopping these fires. Again, this is not something that beavers are conscious of, but just by doing their thing, they're creating these sort of climate resistant environments. And then when you move downstream, so by soaking and storing the water creates colder and cleaner water that percolates up to the surface and oxygenates further downstream, it provides additional water for community drinking supplies. Then also like another aspect of this is the dams stop flooding downstream. When you have these dams further upstream, it's stopping water from really pouring into communities, and we're finding a lot this happens, and especially in urban areas, they're building what they call BDAs, which are beaver dam analogs where there aren't beavers, but these don't do as well as the dams that beavers build. So it's this amazing thing. Whereas we see the climate change and we see more fires, we see more flooding allowing conditions for beavers to exist. We're finding super crucial as a process and nature-based solution to human-made climate change

Alex Re (11:56): That is just completely mind blowing, how they can just completely change the landscape that they're living in, not only for themselves or for other animals, but for us. And I think I would say the majority of people don't know how important beavers are.

Adam Burnett (12:15): I would agree. I feel though that as the moment in the matrix where you can take the red pill or the blue pill, and once you're red pilled on beavers and you see it, you can't unsee it. And for me, that was when I went back to the farmland in Kansas where I was raised at the top of the pandemic and I started learning and seeing these pathways and recognizing it. I am always looking for that now in every landscape I'm in, I can see whether biebers have been there, whether they're there. And this is something where a lot of folks who aren't scientists are coming to this work and it's work that anyone can get involved in. And I find that so incredibly crucial that beaver work really is human relations work.

Alex Re (13:02): Absolutely. And a lot of animal conservation work comes down to changing people's minds about how these animals are seen, not viewing them as pests, but as crucial parts of the ecosystem. Beavers also have really interesting tales, and we're going to talk about them right after the break. This week, I want to give a shout out to Joe from New Jersey. His favorite animal is a humpback whale. Did you know that humpback whales have been known to help other animals like seals escape from killer whales? Nobody really knows why they do this. If you want me to give you a shout out on the podcast, send an email to on wildlife dot podcast@gmail.com, telling me your first name, where you're from, and your favorite animal. Okay, now back to the episode. We're back now. Let's talk about beaver tails.

Adam Burnett (14:17): Beavers are semi-aquatic, meaning they're adept being inland or on water, although they're much more graceful in water. On land, they're a little bit more awkward, although they can get a lot done. So then the tail is expertly designed for this. So it's designed from the water as it acts as a rudder. And when they're on land, it acts as a base for them to sit up right when they're working. It's also used as a warning for predators. So that slap of the tail on the water is basically saying you better stay away. And it works. Oftentimes, biebers are often nocturnal, mostly nocturnal, coming at a desk. And when I would stand on the deck and watch them do their work, oftentimes they would slap that tail and say, Hey, you there on that dock? Don't mess with this. We're busy working.

Alex Re (15:06): That's so cool. And what are some other interesting adaptations that beavers have that allow them to survive in the wild?

Adam Burnett (15:14): They have some really super interesting adaptations. The big one is the teeth, because I got teeth issues and I wish I had beaver teeth. So they've got this super thick enamel on the outside, unlike humans who have very little enamel and their teeth never stop growing, which this is part of. When you think about their obsessive nature of building dams and chewing trees, they have to constantly be chewing and sharpening their teeth because it just keeps on growing. They've got these incredibly webbed high in feet that help them in the water and on land. And as we just talked about that large flat scaly tail, which is super unique. Also, they're fur, super dense fur. This allows 'em to stay dry, and they're also expert grooms. I mean, if you look up Bieber's grooming on the internet, for me, this is sort of meditation, just watching a Bieber groom itself and how they get in there and it looks like such a pleasurable time that they have grooming themselves.

(16:08): They also have these two pair of glands, and this is what's super wild. Again, the beavers, they're mind blowing. They're called castor sacks, so this is part of their urethra and their anal glands. So these castor sacks secrete castor, which is this liquid substance, and you can smell it when you're out in the field that they use to mark their territory. So they'll make these big old mud piles and then secrete the castor on it to mark their territory. And oftentimes this castor has been used for many things. I mean, historically it's been used in perfume. They also have the anal treat, this oily substance, which the beavers use as a sort of coat ointment to sort of clean and make sure that their coats stay clean and water resistant. This substance also plays a role in recognizing who's within their family. So this smell beavers can be pretty territorial. I mean, they are territorial, but within their family, the smell helps 'em recognize, all right, that's a relative. Everything's okay.

Alex Re (17:11): Wow. So scent plays a huge role in how beavers communicate with each other as well as other species. Next, I asked Adam if beavers are social animals or more solitary.

Adam Burnett (17:24): They are social within themselves. As I mentioned, they're mostly nocturnal, so they tend to keep to their immediate family. However, as I mentioned, they live harmoniously with muskrats in their den. And you can also see often birds will build nests on top of a beaver lodge. So in the winter, that keeps the nest warm as well. But there are conflicts, especially when beavers go into the territory of another beaver. You'll see conflict arise from time to time, these territorial disputes. And you asked about the fact being social. The issue that the Beaver Institute deals with often is mitigating the conflict between humans and beavers and dealing with things that humans don't want, which is flooding, and oftentimes the aesthetics of having trees that they like to have up.

Alex Re (18:12): We already talked about why beavers are so important to the ecosystems that they live in, but what challenges are they facing right now?

Adam Burnett (18:20): I would say the biggest challenge that beavers face is misconceptions. They're being pests or being aggressive. I mean, anecdotally, you hear from folks and people have these ideas about beavers, the fact that they eat fish or they are going to attack humans, and these things just aren't true. I feel like beavers, I often align beavers with bison because these were two animals that were nearly extincted from the landscape almost entirely by colonialists, who ravaged the landscape throughout the 19th century. Wetlands were drained and turned into farmland, and we now suffer from this ecological amnesia, not recognizing what this landscape was to a hundred years ago. And that's because of beavers. Beavers create these landscapes. I mean, north America, most of it in certain areas were wetlands. And these were very valuable ecosystems for animals and humans. And I think this is where conflict often arises, where beavers return or make a home where a land holder has a home or foreign land where there can be flooding or trees come down.

(19:23): And I think this is a moment where we can gently educate like what you're doing through your podcast, getting these misconceptions away, this idea that they aren't pests. I mean, this is where the Beaver Institute comes into play. As the climate changes, landholders are going to quickly realize that having beavers in their realm is actually going to increase the value of their property for the benefits of all living things. It's going to stop major flooding, it's going to stop fires, it's going to bring more diversity, it's going to clean out the water. This pond that I was on in cans is just this one example, just by having beaver there, the water is cleaner than it's ever been. The algae doesn't come in as much anymore from that runoff from agriculture. There are more birds, there are more animals that come through. So it's this really amazing thing where the spiral effect, I think as we raise consciousness about this, the challenges that beavers face will start to come down. And that's all of us nonprofits and organizations dealing with beaver restoration. The goal is for us to no longer exist, right for us. That by the way, if we no longer need to be around, then we've succeeded.

Alex Re (20:36): Education is so important because I think most people don't realize how crucial beavers are to these habitats.

Adam Burnett (20:44): There's an amazing filmmaker and communicator, Sarah Kosberg. She has a film called The Beaver Believers, and she was at Beaver Con this year and gave this wonderful presentation about communicating and the idea that when you go in a field where someone has a different idea than you about it, whether it's a farmer or someone else who has the idea that maybe they want to eradicate the beavers going in and listening, right? And not coming in with this idea of I have to change your mind, but listening first and recognizing where the other party's coming from, I think is really valuable too, because so often people have this idea that we're going to try and change their ways as opposed to being gentle, being gentle with your education and not coming in with assumptions. And Sarah Konigsberg has done a lot of work within the beaver world to teach all of us how to do that.

Alex Re (21:32): Absolutely. And if you're not listening to them, how are you going to expect them to listen to you?

Adam Burnett (21:37): Absolutely. And I think that's something that that goes across so many fields right now, right?

Alex Re (21:42): Oh, definitely. Definitely. So what can the average person do to help beavers

Adam Burnett (21:48): Talk to people about beavers? As I mentioned before, the past few hundred years of colonization has intentionally erased the importance of living alongside and with nature as opposed to controlling and dominating it, and control and domination provokes fear and hatred. And I grew up in this. I grew up fearing wasps, spiders, sharks, coyotes, and fear often leads to hatred. So the most important thing I think, is to get out into nature and try to release yourself from this knee-jerk reaction of jumping or screaming when you run into a spider web, when you run into that spiderweb, just breathe, be gentle and patient and try to extend this into every living thing that you encounter. And it's hard because so much, I dunno about you, but I grew up with people screaming at seeing a spider or seeing something that they feared and recognizing that there's really nothing to fear.

(22:45): And so much of this has to do with going back to indigenous wisdom and the relationship that Native Americans had with this land. And a lot of that was intentionally erased. And I think this is the beauty of beaver, because they are the keystone of keystone species by just having beaver around. They create a landscape where we can learn and live in a more harmonious, balanced way. But it's really listening to nature and not fearing it. And that's not just nature work, that's human relations work. So beaver work is human relations work. And so as I said, talking to people about beavers, getting out there and releasing yourself from the fear and recognizing that gentle space of being patient and understanding with nature.

Alex Re (23:34): Definitely. And I think that's something that we can all strive to work on because it's not something that takes a lot of money or too much time. It's something that we could just work on in our everyday lives.

Adam Burnett (23:49): Absolutely. And you're doing this work, as I mentioned before, I listened to your wasps podcasts and the week before that, I had been up at the farmland in Kansas and there were so many wasps, and I learned from your podcast, their colonies can grow to 50,000. And instead of this thing of fearing them, recognizing that if they see me, they can recognize a human face. And maybe there's a way in which just by being gentle and being patient with them, I can have a relationship with them where I'm not fearing them and I recognize the benefit that they have to the ecosystem. So this goes with every living thing.

Alex Re (24:28): Adam had some really amazing insights about beavers, and I'm so happy he was able to join me today. I knew beavers were amazing animals, but I underestimated just how important they are to the entire ecosystems around them. If you want to support organizations that help beavers, you should absolutely go check out The Beaver Institute. You can also take a look at Beavers, wetlands and Wildlife and Beaver Trust. Thank you so much for coming on this adventure with me as we explored the world of Beavers. You can find the sources that we use for this podcast and links to organizations that we reference at onwildlife.org. You can also email us with any questions at On Wildlife dot podcast@gmail.com, and you can follow us on Instagram at On Wildlife or on TikTok at wildlife. And don't forget to tune in next Wednesday for another awesome episode, and that's On Wildlife.

Jess Avellino (25:34): You've been listening to On Wildlife with Alex Re. On Wildlife provides general educational information on various topics as a public service, which should not be construed as professional financial, real estate, tax, or legal advice. These are our personal opinions only. Please refer to our full disclaimer policy on our website for full details.