Why Do Beavers Build Dams?

[Yavin4]

Is there some kind of animal union and they're getting good benefits?

[Deja Q]

1. Well, it's better than buying condoms...

:wow:

In all seriousness, a damn is their home.

[Yavin4]

5. Do They Re-Finance Or No?

I think they can get good deal in today's market.

[NNadir]

2. I think someone told them that hydroelectric power was good for the

environment.

This of course is a rather ridiculous idea, but beavers are rodents with rather small brains.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

3. If you really want to know...

Apparently they can't stand the sound of running water; that's the impetus to block rivers.

Between gnawing and damming the beavers effectively create a whole ecosystem.

[Beaverhausen]

hee hee

[DrWeird]

4. To flood the entrances to their dens.

They build dens with an entrance near the bottom near a stream, dam the stream, then the only way to get in or our of the den is via swimming up through the bottom.

So it's mostly for defense. And maybe insulation during the winter.

[Yavin4]

6. Industrious Little Things

Aint they.

[DrWeird]

10. Absolutely.

A few years ago there was a problem with some horrible vandal chopping down ornamental cherry trees along the Mall in Washington, D.C. After an investigation it turned out they had a case of beavers.

[sangh0]

16. A "case of beavers"???

I was hoping that was what my next birthday present was going to be.

[Paradise]

7. to keep the bushes out! n/t

[eyesroll]

8. Dam!

</regressing to sixth grade>

[liontamer]

9. they get a warm place to sleep

and a pond where it's easy to catch fish

[Maple]

11. Because they are

philosophically opposed to building nuclear plants.

[moof]

12. sh0rtbus was closest, it's the sound that they key in on

they have no plan or concept of how to construct thet damns they create.
A beaver will stuff mud and stack up wood & branches over a loudspeaker
until the sound is silenced. Eons of evolution at play, nothing more.

[MyUncle]

13. The most complex instinctual behavior of any species.

[Yavin4]

14. Damn You Running Water Sound! Damn You To Hell!!

ARRRGH!!!

[captainjack]

15. same reason bush lies

it's their natural instinct.

[Shananigans]

17. Well, as a former Bemidji Beaver...

I don't know. But we just had Beaver homecoming this weekend and I don't give a dam, I had a great time!

GO BEAVERS!

[GeorgeBushytail]

18. They store their winter food under the pond they create

I live in Wisconsin within 500 yards of 3 beaver lodges and 2 dams. During the Fall beavers work hard to store their winter supply of branches (they eat the living layer of wood under the bark). They gather branches and stick them into the mud on the bottom of their pond. During the cold months they can slip out the underwater door to swim for a tasty wood snack without showing their nose above the ice.

I'm no biologist, but this is my understanding.

[Yavin4]

19. The Strangest Thing Just Happened To Me

I started this thread about Beavers on Friday, and today, I'm on the subway platform at Astor Place. On the wall, there's artwork depicting Beavers. What's going on? What is God trying to tell me about Beavers?