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lumberjack surveyor Builders engineer
it's all in a day's work for beaver
they've got the tools and the know-how
create a brand new ecosystem one log at
a time when they build everyone shares
the reward a beaver pond is a wildlife
magazine it's the place to find a mate
in raise a family to hunt or fight for
survival in the center of the action
the engineer keeps the whole thing
running building a dam that's just part
of the job
these guys will face down predators
voyage into the unknown and battle the
full force of nature
all to create their little slice of
paradise
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these are the Teton Mountains in Jackson
Hole Wyoming at their base slides a
large river valley a place the American
beaver called home they are cousins of
mice and squirrels but your 12 pound cat
wouldn't want to chase down these
50-pound fur balls it's hard to find an
animal on earth that resembles them
they're a bit like an oversized
woodchucks that borrowed spare parts
from other animals their front paws are
five fingered and nimble like a raccoon
while their back feet are webbed like a
duck's for swimming
their paddle tail could have been
borrowed from a platypus but without the
first in their teeth their most prized
possession are like giant rabbit
incisors put that all together and you
have one mean engineering machine in
just five years these beavers turned a
small forest stream into what's now
called Willow Pond of that deep diverse
wetland all from a few rocks twigs and
mud
as spring arrived the water attracts an
entire cast of characters year after
year they count on the beaver cond like
they count on spring itself sandhill
cranes arrived from Mexico along with
white pelicans Canada geese and golden
eye ducks may have only traveled a few
miles they need quiet water and good
cover for nesting and this beaver pond
provide both for a cow moose the willows
provide more than cover the early spring
buds are a welcome relief after a winter
eating nothing but dry twigs the Beavers
pond is the most happening place in the
valley bringing about animals of all
types but with all the hustle and bustle
predators are eager to join the party as
well
a mother grizzly and her three cubs have
just woken up from a six-month slumber
they're hungry quick and they'll eat
anything they can get their paws on
including a plump North American beaver
the father beaver senses danger and head
straight for the deepest and safest part
of the pond he can easily out swim a
bear or hide in the murky water holding
his breath for up to 15 minutes but
mother must stay in the lodge with her
young
it's a dangerous move the bears know
there's a meal inside but even a
600-pound predator doesn't crush this
brilliantly engineered structure maybe
the Bears thought the Beavers were too
much work or they're still groggy from a
long winters nap either way mom settles
instead for the quick easy delicacy of a
rotten trout
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bear cubs learn to hunt by watching
their mothers and each little victory
deserves the celebration while they get
valuable training from mom there's still
plenty of time for play believe it or
not the grizzly bear one of the top
predators in the forest isn't the most
serious threat to the Beavers in
springtime it's the sudden unpredictable
things
six months worth of snow melts in the
span of a few weeks trickles of water
become torrents the tiny runoff stream
that feeds the willow pond swelled into
a raging river
and it smashes the Beaver Dam capisce
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it's washed downstream in an instant
the Adult Swim against the raging
current but young beavers aren't nearly
as strong one of the year old tips has
strayed from the lodge at the wrong time
if he gets swept away he could be lost
or injured in the rocky stream luckily
mom comes to the rescue
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with the worst / the Beavers assess the
damage with the dam gone their pond is
draining weeks of hard work washed away
in an instant it's not just the Beavers
who are losing their home an entire
community is counting on them to save
this pond luckily this is what beavers
were born to do the sound of running
water triggers an obsessive desire to
build and once again the Beavers spring
into action step 1
gather supplies armed with nothing more
than the great set of incisors mothers
leader gets to lumberjacking
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those teeth of hers never stopped
growing if she doesn't wear them down
every day they soon outgrow her head but
when you spend as much time chewing
through wood as she does that's not a
problem there's no time for sitting
around on one's tail this is a whole
family affair
mother put the stick in place while
father patches holds from debris
gathered from the bottom and carried any
way he can one within a week they've got
the water back under control
they've saved their pond
despite the scare their two-year-old son
has gotten crucial on-the-job training
and he's going to need it
his mother is about to give birth to a
new litter their house might be well
constructed but it's no mansion
the two-year-old is about to get the
boot
he must set off and build a pond of his
own it's not as easy as finding a place
next door the closest real estate is
already claimed other beavers probably
his older siblings have already
established colonies nearby this beaver
must venture out even further into the
unknown and it's dangerous there will be
predators and little protection when he
finds an unoccupied building site he'll
have to engineer a comet his own all
from scratch and all before winter comes
again
this is a journey than many young
beavers do not survive as summer
approaches the valley erupts with life
the beavers have created the perfect
place to raise a family and it attracts
all washed applies a mother moose brings
her two week old cat out of the forest
to the palms edge for a drink
while some Swan fused the pond for
nesting and a mother Fox sees it as a
perfect hunting ground to help bees for
growing young the kids learn to hunt by
watching their mothers and by simply
roughhousing around they don't seem to
have a worry in the world others don't
have it so easy
the two-year-old is still on a
house-hunting mission he's only two
miles from the willow pond where he was
born but to a beaver that's an epic
journey finally he discovers a promising
piece of property and it just happens to
have a special smell about it there's a
female nearby a single female he's hit
the jackpot
beavers aren't much for romance for this
young couple attraction as a matter of
convenience she is the only available
female around and he is the only male
that's good enough for them now it's
time to get back to work and do what
beavers do best build a dam starting the
project from scratch the pair musters
every skill engineer woodcutter
carpenter even stone nations first comes
their foundation a bit of brush they lay
on the bottom of the strength and then a
few thoughtfully placed stones to anchor
it in place
finally they add layers of debris and
wood holes are patched with mud all
those into place a basic dam takes shape
with layers of branches rocks logs and
debris arranged in a triangle as the
water level rises the Beavers add more
layers making the dam higher and wider
after a month their 40-foot dam is
finally complete and their pond begins
to grow the first trees are cleared the
stream is blocked and the land flood
they've single-handedly transformed an
entire landscape no cements chainsaws or
bulldozers required
they've just passed the first big test
of adulthood they built a dam and filled
a pond but a beavers work is never done
their next house project their lakeside
beaver lodge back at Willow Pond mom and
dad are on food shuttling Duty they
gather up the family favorite alder
Cottonwood Aspen and Willow then float
branch after tasty branch down the pond
to the lodge the kits are impatient
eating machines waiting for their food
delivery and then squabbling over the
biggest twig mom and dad attempt to
sneak in a snack of their own they might
only get the small leftover twigs but
nothing beats a little crunchy bark and
some soft Hopi wood
they have their fast-food technique down
nimble forepaws been a small branch like
corn on the cob while their sharp cheese
strip off the tasty bit as picky as they
are beavers can pack away two pounds of
wood every day that's quite a challenge
for an animal that lives underwater but
whose food grows on land
and even worse they've cut down all the
trees around them for their building
projects but leave it to the Beavers to
get creative and use a little animal
awesomeness if you can't bring the trees
to the water's edge why not bring the
water to the trees the Beavers turn
hydro engineers build an entire canal
system their short runs out of the water
have already worn paths in the dirt now
all they have to do is a little extra
excavation and it fills with water
problem solved
mother and father beaver continue to
dredge their channels depositing the mud
on the bank all summer long their hard
work pays off they create an entire
network of waterways that reach out like
fingers from the main pond
they are the tell-tale mark of an older
beaver pond stretching as far as 750
feet into the surrounding forest this
way they always have a watery escape
route
and it's definitely easier to move
branches by floating them rather than
dragging especially when you need to
stockpile loads of branches for winter
and time is running out cold weather is
coming in a hurry a chilly wind sweeps
down from the mountains setting the
Aspen's and cottonwoods ablaze at their
brand-new beaver pond the young couple
can sense the change they have their Dam
but they quickly need to build their
safe warm shelter they are beaver lodge
it's time to move some timber ASAP
beavers teeth make remarkable chain
slobs this mail cannot his way through a
six-inch tree trunk in under an hour
but lumberjacking is dangerous work
every now and then a beaver will get
crushed by a falling tree so this is a
one beaver job his mate knows to stay
clear until he through
it's round-the-clock work beavers are
mostly nocturnal so working the night
shift is no problem the young male just
keeps on chomping every few bites he
pauses and listens for creaks and snaps
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that way he knows when to dive for cover
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now the female joins in to help cut up
the tree into logs like a mobile sawmill
the two Lumberjacks strip off the
branches and float the logs down the
pond to the job site morning comes and
they're still working you could coin
their style eco-friendly sheet piling
sticks and brush high into a free-form
mound then they gnaw and dig out the
inside into an earthen cavern complete
with rooms and even entryways
a layer of mud mortar is the finishing
touch to hold it together and seal out
the coil over the course of a week
they built a cozy home four feet high
with walls 2 feet thick and a plush
interior any beaver would long for the
entrances sit below water levels they
open into an entryway for drying off and
eating above that sits the main living
room
vented with a chimney to keep it from
overheating it's a castle built for a
beaver and just in time winter has
arrived
when snow comes to Jackson Hole it
blankets the valley for six months
much of the Willow Pond freezes solid
but in the beaver lodge things are
pretty cozy thick walls keep out the
cold and a layer of body fat especially
in their bare tails does the rest
mostly they sleep when hunger strikes
they can swim to their pantry and back
in a few seconds they never need to set
foot outside except that is if you're a
young beaver trying to make you through
your first winter on your own
outside lizards whip the snow into ten
foot drifts and temperatures can plunge
to 40 degrees below zero most animals
just have to tough it out
bison use their heads like plows to
reach clumps of grass buried under the
snow
moose try to get by on the dry twigs of
Willow and other trees and Al Crudup
plant shoots by pawing through the snow
with their hooks but a certain young and
inexperienced beaver couple didn't store
enough food for the winter
their pantry is empty holes in the deep
snow means someone has snuck out of the
lodge when he shouldn't have it's the
young male hunger drives him out to face
the full blast of winter all of the
Beavers hard work and preparation is to
avoid a moment like this
he's more of a swimmer than a snowplow
but lucky for him he stumbles on a small
sapling
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it'll hold them over for another day but
spring is a long way off and he must
continue the brutal hunt the wind just
gets colder in the snow deeper each day
he must travel further from home into
the forest
this time he stumbled upon a tree he had
tried to cut down in the fall but got
hung up on a pine tree now it might be
his only hope he's a good lumberjack but
no climber
he tries to skate across the frozen
trunk to reach the edible twigs
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10 feet up success slips away
you
but determined his perseverance finally
pays off
now it's a waiting game with a few
sticks a day and their fat reserves
vanishing the pair must hang on until
the end of winter come at long last
there's a sign of relief sunshine and
warmth arrive at last the snow won't
vanish overnight but the worst is over
the beaver family at Willow Pond gets
back to the grind making repairs
building edition and saying goodbye to
another set of young ones as they set
off into the world
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the pond will empty the large Aspen's
and cottonwoods will grow back and the
cycle can begin again upstream at the
new pond the young couple finally
ventures into an unfrozen world after
surviving their first winter alone on a
chilly March morning they reaffirm their
special bond this year they'll be ready
to have tips of their own continuing to
be the busy beavers they are and awesome
animal engineers they'll build upon the
work they began last year creating an
entire ecosystem for a whole river
valley of creatures
you
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