The Deep Weirdness of Beavers

I know it's "lithub.com" and therefore I guess focused on writing but I find it frustrating that the article could not be bothered including a picture of a Beaver that showed what they were talking about.

Although after finding a clear picture on Wikipedia I don't think they look that weird. But then again I grew up thinking that Platypi (Platypuses? Platypodes?) were normal :-D

The author's "weirdness" argument stems largely from the conjunction of similar features seemingly borrowed from unrelated animals, and the relative uniqueness of the beaver in doing so (the platypus is considered weird for the same reason, at least around here).

I think the author really over-does it, though- the inclusion of "bear" is a long stretch; it really doesn't resemble a bear more than other similarly sized rodent species, and north america has had no shortage of gigantic ancestors of modern mammals. Having a bear-sized ancestor is nothing special either (though a bear sized beaver would indeed be a sight to behold!)

Even the references to other animals is a bit much- really, if you took away the funky tail, and remembered that lots of mammals have more webbing between their digits than humans do (otters, even ferrets!) and useful grasping fingers (watching raccoons eat is a delight)... well, they look an awful lot like a rabbit without the long ears.

As for their colony building, there are plenty of other animals that build colonies, though beavers have a somewhat uniquely semi-aquatic behavioral adaptation in the way they build dams.

They really are fascinating creatures, but also terribly destructive if they decide your bushes or trees look interesting. I've got metal wire mesh wrapped around several trees to protect them from the buggers.

The Platypus is even weirder because it's part beaver, part duck, it lays eggs, produces milk, can detect electromagnetic fields... Also, males have a venomous claw on their back paws.

Living in the land of the Beaver (Canada - we have a Beaver on our 5 cent coin even) they are weird animals.

I live near a nature trail with a river and you can find the results of there "work" everywhere - cut down trees and dams.

Not many animals invest so much effort cutting down very large trees and creating dams.

Lived here for 22 years, see their dams, and a LOT of "spikes" in the ground where small trees once stood but have never actually seen a Beaver in the wild??

I'm in the USA and the only time I've seen beavers in the wild is when they are swimming and I'm in a canoe. They must be better at hiding from humans when they are on land.

In the water they're easy to spot because of the ripples behind them, and because they often slap the water with their tail to warn others of danger (my canoe, apparently).