Beaver

By Takaaki Niikura (Nick)

I went to a pond on a field tip, and I saw a beaver dam and trees that were brought down by beavers. I had heard of beaver; but I didn’t know much about beaver, so I studied about them. Beavers have both good and bad effects on nature.

According to the article "Beaver," in Wikipedia (English), beavers are mammalian and they mainly live in Europe and North America. They will grow to about 2 feet long not including the tail. Their most popular characteristic is their ability to make a dam and their nest in the dam. The largest dam was found in 2007, 2790 feet (850m) in Canada ("Beaver").

This is a stream we saw on the field trip. Beaver have built dams in several places along the stream, or creek. (Photo © 2008 Takaaki Niikura)

In a Japanese version of Wikipedia, an article about beaver states that from the 17th to the 19th century, gentlemen wore a castor, which is now called a silk hat; however the hats were made from the beaver’s fur then. In the early 19th century, 100,000 to 500,000 beavers were killed in a year, so they were almost extinct. Material of the castor was changed to silk in the 19th century, and also humans started to protect beaver "Beaver").

According to the article "Beaver," in Zakkayasan, beaver make dams from trees, stones and mud. They cut the trees themselves with their teeth. One beaver can cut a tree, which is 3 inches in diameter, in 5 minutes; two can cut a tree 10 inches in diameter in 4 hours ("Beaver").

This is a tree cut down by the beaver's sharp teeth. (Photo © 2008 Takaaki Niikura)

The reservoir which beaver make will be a good habitat for fish, birds or insects; and also the reservoir plays a role in controlling rainwater flow and preventing floods. After many years, the reservoir will be filled up; then beaver move to other place, and the land will be good pasture ("The Beaver").

On the other hand, as the Japanese Wikipedia article notes, beaver can devastate a forest. In the 1940s, the government of Argentina imported 50 beaver into the Fuego islands from North America. The government planned to get money from the beaver’s fur, but beavers increased by about a hundred thousand in 2008 because there were no natural enemies of beavers there. The beavers are crunching many trees, and the forests are decreasing. Now the government is planning to exterminate them. In contrast, Scotland is trying to import beaver and to recover their ecosystem ("Beaver").

In any event, we have to find a way to live in harmony with animals. Instead of killing them, we need to protect them. Animals' existence is influenced by their habitat and food, and by human behavior. The earth is not only for humans, but also for animals; so human beings must think about sharing the earth. In my opinion, until human beings die out, the ecosystem will not recover.

Works Cited

"Beaver." Wikipedia (English). 2 Sept. 2008.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver

"Beaver." Wikipedia (Japanese). 2 Sept. 2008.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%93%E3%83%BC%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC

"Beaver." Zakkayasan. 2 Sept. 2008.
http://clubuuu.ld.infoseek.co.jp/zka/zakka/06/10/16.html

"The Beaver." Wetlands and Wildlife (BWW) Home Page. 2002. Beavers Wetlands and Wildlife Inc. 2 Sept. 2008.
http://www.beaversww.org/beaver.html