Photos from space show 11,000 beavers are wreaking havoc on the Alaskan tundra as savagely as wildfi

[Eugene]

Source: Business Insider

Photos from space show 11,000 beavers are wreaking havoc on the Alaskan tundra as savagely as wildfire

Morgan McFall-Johnsen
Tue, January 3, 2023 at 5:15 PM EST·6 min read

Beavers are taking over the Alaskan tundra, completely transforming its waterways, and accelerating climate change in the Arctic.

The changes are so sudden and drastic that they're clearly visible from space.

As the Arctic tundra warms, woody plants are growing along its rivers and streams, creating perfect habitats for beavers.

As the furry rodents move into these waterways, they make themselves at home by doing what they do best: chewing and carrying wood to build dams, and clogging rapid rivers and streams to make lush ponds.

What was once a thin line of water cutting across the tundra has become a train of bulbous beaver ponds:

-snip-

Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/photos-space-show-11-000-221546256.html

[Voltaire2]

1. Hello? We did that.

The beavers are not causing global warming and thawing out the tundra. We are doing that.

[hlthe2b]

3. Exactly.. See my earlier post.

Poorly disguised excuse to resume beaver hunting?

[Klondike Kat]

4. That was my first thought, too.

Beavers doing what comes naturally shouldn't really surprise anyone.

[hlthe2b]

2. Interesting, given beavers are being reintroduced in areas of the west

to aid in recovery from wildfires

Beavers were hunted nearly to extinction by humans, causing major environmental damage, including more frequent flooding, smaller wetlands, diminished water quality, and less resilience to drought. This damage is being repaired by reintroducing beavers to former habitats.

https://regeneration.org/nexus/beavers

[pazzyanne]

5. Exactly! nt

[Eugene]

23. Beavers have a place in the ecosystem as a keystone species, but thawing permafrost

is throwing things out of balance and starting yet another feedback loop.

[jaxexpat]

6. S, it's "furry rodents" now, is it?

My beaver, Bucky, would kick your butt if she weren't so busy. It's not easy living with a beaver. My hot tub looks like the set of "Sometimes a Great Notion". Never give a beaver a Keurig for Arbor Day unless you like talking to the HOA bitch at all hours.

[GB_RN]

7. Scientifically...

The description is accurate. Beavers are members of the rodent family, cousins to squirrels, mice, rats, chipmunks, etc,.

[jaxexpat]

9. Yeah, you guys with the sciency-schmiency.

You tell that to 60 lb's of cellulose addicted housemate and you're gonna lose a kitchen table leg. At the least.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Here are a couple comparison sat images

[jaxexpat]

11. Okay, they're rodents. Like rabbits. I get it.

By the time you finish reading this, it'll be 12,000 Alaskan beaver. Which, statistically speaking, means more Republicans. Just sayin'.

[pirsquared]

13. rabbits are NOT rodents, they are lagomorphs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit

[jaxexpat]

27. Thanks for that "extra incisorive" report.

You couldn't tell by me that beavers have fewer incisors than rabbits. You'd have to ask the live oak, that used to be in my front yard, now slowly circling my tub drain.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. Perhaps the fur trade can get going again

I think what it is establishing is that a lot of that tundra that might have once been permafrost, now has the top layers of their soil thawed, and that has altered the places where these animals have been able to establish themselves - like how you have more and more stranded polar bears in unexpected places.

[jaxexpat]

36. I just read that somewhere. What a coincidence.

Let's move to Canadia and raise wildebeests. They won't mind the company.
Beaver pelts as a cash crop until the gnus come in. What a plan!

[BumRushDaShow]

37. My money is on

the wooly mammoths.

[hatrack]

26. Didn't waste any time, did they?

Beavers gonna beaver.

[BumRushDaShow]

29. Give those guys from Primus some banjos

and they would make good Mummers!

[Wicked Blue]

10. dammit

[Botany]

12. So the beavers are drilling for oil & gas as they mine coal after which they burn it to produce CO2

... which causes climate change?

[TeamProg]

15. +1

[Deep State Witch]

14. I'm Sure That The Predators

I'm sure that the wolves and other predators will soon figure out where there is an overpopulation of beavers, and take care of that issue.

[docgee]

16. I don't see the problem.

How do more ponds accelerate climate change?

[TeamProg]

17. See;

https://news.yahoo.com/photos-space-show-11-000-221546256.html

[docgee]

20. Thanks

Nice way of saying "read the article, dipshit'.

[Random Boomer]

25. Water holds heat

Beaver ponds are warm oases in the tundra, since the still, deep water holds more heat than the rushing rivers that previously cut through.

That heat in the water escalates the thawing out of the tundra around the pond, which then releases more methane.

[TeamProg]

18. The planet will be fine, the majority of humans, not so much. n/t

[Evolve Dammit]

28. I wonder how long it would take for all presence of mankind to be gone if we ceased to be? 500 yrs?

[Wounded Bear]

21. The beavers are only there because of climate change...

They are moving north as temps increase.

[Traildogbob]

22. The Rodentia family.

Overpopulation of any species, plants, Animals, Protista, Monerans or Fungi will wreak havoc on the ecosystem they are in. When control mechanisms for them are removed. Beavers can and do create flooded acreage that most times are food producing areas, or are Timberlands and like it or not, people are hired to eradicate then. Many of My Wildiife grads were hired by Feds to eliminate problem animals. Some used dynamite to blow up Dams and trapping was used to kill them. You never live trap and relocate species to be an issue somewhere else. Some students are hired to kill birds near major airports. In Minnesota, beavers are trapped to protect timberland from floods. Interestingly, the beaver tails are a main staple to feed the wolves at the International Wolf Center in Ely.
Would anyone complain if another “Rodentia” was trapped and eliminated in say, New York City? Would anyone allow rats and the snakes they attract dwell peacefully in your homes? Cockroaches, they are in the animal kingdom. Maybe if rats had flat, or fury tails they would get some love. Beavers reproduce just like rats, as they are big rats. The real problem is overpopulation of another species of animal. One that takes and consumes everything and contributes nothing back to the ecosystem. They destroy all systems they touch to make way for their own perceived needs, and leave poison in their wake.
We have taken away habitat for countless species that are like refugees, moving to where they have a chance to survive. Nature will ultimately thin out the bad players. The new Covid may just be the beginning. One species is the most Destructive of all, and contributes nothing, we do not even offer organic materials back to the soil, or feed detritus organisms, so if Mother Nature needs to balance, which one would she eliminate for the best of the whole?

[Martin Eden]

24. Wildlife adapts

In response to changing ecology some species will thrive, and others will suffer.

What we're seeing in the Alaskan tundra is a natural consequence to manmade climate change which has, overall, mostly bad consequences for us.

[jaxexpat]

32. Just ask the Castoroides. Now there's a beaver that suffered and died. Extinct even.

Which is probably a pretty good thing when you appreciate just how serious a >6' beaver with 6" teeth could get to your personal ecology.

[Martin Eden]

33. That extinct beaver might have been even more dangerous

Than the rabbit from Monty Python's Holy Grail.

[jaxexpat]

35. Yeah, even with the extra incisors, Monty Python's rabbit wouldn't had stood a chance.

But it would have been a good match to record.

[Historic NY]

30. Unbelievable amount of damage they can do.

In the old days they were regularly trapped for their pelts. W/o controls, they can close interstates too. DEC seems to have been asleep on the job at the Stewart Airport Buffer Zone. For decades, they have had to relocate them, they might be letting the place go forever wild but even back when it was a farming community from 1729 to 1970s they were regularly hunted or trapped. Old farm ponds have become lakes.

https://wpdh.com/beavers-causing-mile-long-backup-on-busy-hudson-valley-highway/]

[Farmer-Rick]

31. I think we should re-home them

Use to be a huge beaver population here around my farm but they aren't around anymore. They created a pond but that has washed out years ago.

Do they prefer the cold? Is the heat causing their migration?

[jaxexpat]

34. Same thing happened in Western Ky where I used to farm.

We figured the great influx of coyotes culled them out of the neighborhood. When I was a kid the Ohio river flood plain was all rabbits, the occasional fox and birds. When I came home, 1982, to live after around 6 years away there were deer eating the edges of the soybean fields and ground hogs digging up the foundations of tobacco barns. They pretty much disappeared, as did the rabbits, when the coyotes came in the mid 80's. The beaver increase peaked in the late 90's. Haven't lived there since 2003 so I'm unaware of the latest "scourge". Probably penguins. A lot of the species migration must be from habitat disturbance. There was a push for drainage in the 70's which opened up a lot of woodland to farming. Whatever was living in those old swampy woods had to move somewhere. I've seen deer swim the river from Indiana. They had to be pretty determined because the river is around 3/4 to 1 mile wide there. 20 miles wide during winter-spring flood. Female and a fawn, both made it, and we watched them come ashore. It seemed you could have walked up to them and petted them as they stood there, they were so tired.