Alie Ward
Appearances
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And what about you? Where did you grow up and when did you start wanting to be involved with tracking beavers and learning more about them? I've only seen maybe one or two in my life in Montana splashing from afar, but I know I'm fascinated with them. But when did it start for you?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Okay, so Castorology, it's a study indeed. It comes from the root for Castor, which may come from the Greek for he who excels. And there's this big debate about whether this divine Greek mythological twin named Castor, who was worshiped as a healer, got his name from smelly beaver juice used as a medicine for millennia, or if it was the other way around. But we're here, it's now.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
You're talking about them as something that changes the ecosystem and can have a lot of impact on things like literally downstream. And humans, unfortunately, have kind of stepped into that role, not in good ways a lot. But I'm so curious about the beaver instinct. And they can have such huge impacts on environments.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And I don't know how they know how to do that because I couldn't go just build a boat. by myself. I couldn't just go build a house by myself. How do beavers know how to chop down wood, how to stack it? What exactly are they doing with all of this instinct and how is it shaping the environment in their immediate way? What does it do for beavers to make dams and lodges?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Wait, they don't need to build dams? Like all of them? I guess if you score an apartment next to a park, you don't need to erect a swing set in the front yard.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So beavers making dams not only spread the stream water wider out, but deeper into the soils as well and into the groundwater. And for more, you can see Dr. Wohl's 2017 paper in the Journal of Water Resources Research titled, Beaver-Mediated Lateral Hydrologic Connectivity. Fluvial carbon and nutrient flux and aquatic ecosystems metabolism, which maybe you've already read.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
But if not, TLDR is that our beaver friends make complex watery environments and that those areas are a good sink for water when the streams run low and for carbon capture and nutrients for the rest of the ecosystems. Even hydrologists are like dam beavers. That's cool.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Let's get to what patron Stratford Abbott calls swimming furry chainsaws.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So they're kind of shoring up that river. It spreads out. It gets deeper. And then naturally, willows and other things use that water source to grow into it. They create this new little ecosystem where more things start to thrive there.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And let's talk about baby beavers, tooth tools, lodges, dams, the sound of water, the slap of a tail, who eats beaver and why, the best beaver real estate, the plight of the beaver, hats, whiskey, beavers and folklore, in joke books, in your neighborhood and in your dreams forever with naturalist, wildlife ecologist, tracker, and castorologist, Rob Rich.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Well, if they get up and go, if they're like, not as much here, and they get up and go, do they have to build an entirely new dam? Or do they ever find abandoned dams from other beavers? And they're like, this is pretty good.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
You know, it always boggles me to hear how fast a spider, like an orb weaver, can spin a web. Kind of the timeline of how different organisms create things, I think it can be really surprising. But when it comes to making a dam, and I know there are really huge ranges probably in sizes, but are they working on it for like a year? Is it a multi-year project?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Or do they say, all right, let's chew some trees down. Let's get this thing done. And it's like pretty fast.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Not only that, but they tend to work the night shift, and they dig out trails and even canals to float sticks and tree trunks toward the dams. They're making log rides.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
How are they making those dams? Are they threading different size diameter trunks and sticks? Is it almost like they're weaving it or are they piling it and then kind of plugging in gaps?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And with a pair of beavers, are they both working on it typically? Or do they ever get the yearlings in on it? Like, hey, you're going to have to do this eventually. Go grab me some mud.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
You know, you mentioned, obviously we're talking baby beavers. Sometimes a wildlife rehabber will have videos of baby beavers and they're very fuzzy and very cute. And I've seen videos of them taking all the towels or toys or items around them and trying to plug up a doorway with them?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And I imagine that's got to be instinctual, but do they start looking for stuff to push around even when they're little, little?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
This reminds me of when my nephew Mason wanted to play this video game. And it was just a video game about working at a diner, making sandwiches and burgers. And we're like, you know, Mason, one day you can do this for as long as you want. And they give you money for it. You're never going to believe it. It's called a job.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
But yeah, that video I saw, which was uploaded to YouTube in 2022, is titled, Rescue Beaver Makes Christmas Dam In-House. And it features a rescue beaver scooting down a nice hardwood-floored hallway and stacking items, including a flip-flop, a SpongeBob SquarePants plush toy, a small Christmas tree, a rag rug, a teddy bear, and a full roll of red, shiny wrapping paper.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And castorology, this seems like it's something that's been in the books before. Do beaver people call themselves castorologists?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And at times this beaver pauses thoughtfully, just blinking, touching his tiny hands together, as you might when you have walked into the kitchen, but you've forgotten why. Now, the uploader, Holly Muraco, writes in the video's description that this beaver is being raised by wildlife rehabbers after being orphaned as a newborn. Her parents were killed and their dam and lodge destroyed.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Beavers are classified as nuisance animals in many U.S. states, Holly writes, and can be killed anytime. Beavers need to spend two years with their human rehabbers and have lots of opportunities to practice instinctive behaviors. This beaver enjoys playing this game inside the house, but lives with the other orphaned beavers outside most of the time.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Now, Holly, who works with the Woodside Wildlife Rescue in Mississippi, writes, this misunderstood and unique species needs lots of love. And I want to reach into this video and I want to pet this big rodent. I want to tell it it's doing a good job of stacking all of those objects together. I want to softly pat its big weird tail because I love it.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
A question I feel like I have never gotten to ask someone who gets to study and learn about beavers, but what's with their tail? How big is it? Is that all skin or is it hairy? It looks like a big cactus leaf, kind of. What does that feel or look like?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
I never thought of it this once in my life before, but are there bones in the tail? There've got to be. Is it like a dog tail, but just real flat and big?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
I never realized that. I would have thought it was kind of like a mat of leather. We have so many questions from listeners that are very excited to have a beaver expert on. Can I ask you some listener questions?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Okay. They knew you were coming on. We've organized them as best we can. into some categories. I thought this was a great question. Shannon O'Grady, Olivia Lester, Onyx Monolith, Rachel Prestanko, Ash Mickelright, Gemma, Shirley Lozanobo, Addie Capello, and Alexandra Rambeau. They want to know about their teeth. How are they so strong? Alexandra asks, has the strength of their teeth been measured?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
I love that they have the term beaver believer because I think not all species get a catchy name like that.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
What are they comparable to? Onyx wanted to know, is it comparable to like tigers and alligators? What kind of jaw and teeth strength are they working with? And we will get to the root of that tooth question in a minute, including why they are the color of a tangerine. But first, we donate to a cause of theologist choosing.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And this week, the wonderful Rob Rich selected Tracker Certification North America, which aims to create a future where ecological literacy is common, valued, and accessible to all. And they do this by providing education, resources, support, and professional certification for all who aim to improve their skills as wildlife trackers. either recreationally or professionally.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And they explain that wildlife tracking is a field science, which helps identify and interpret the signs of animal activity and wildlife observations amid a changing world. It also gives people a feeling of a meaningful connection with the landscapes. So that was Tracker Certification North America, with whom Rob works. So thank you to our show sponsors for enabling that donation.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Okay, and folks submitting questions are patrons of Ologies at patreon.com slash ologies. You can join for a dollar. And we're all eager to get back to the beaver questions. What's with those teeth?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And where are you right now? Can you set the scene? You're in Montana?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And for patron Alexander Rambo, hi, hey, who asked, has the strength of their teeth been measured and what are they comparable to? It's about 180 pounds per square inch, which is greater than the 150 or so of a human's, but it's a lot less than the 1,000 pounds per square inch that a Bengal tiger or a grizzly would use to snap your bones. Maybe it's because trees can't run away from beavers.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Oh, hey, it's the lady at the donut store who knows that you like bear claws. Allie Ward, this is ologies. This is beavers. Finally, the beavers are here and ushering them in is an absolutely delightful beaver man who is a field naturalist and a conservationist who does a ton of biological surveys and teaches wildlife tracking and beaver ecology. and he writes about the beaver as well.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
They can kind of just succumb to their fate being savored bite by bite as slow as they want to. I don't know. I'm neither a tree nor a beaver.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So our exposed teeth, your exposed teeth, if you're listening to this, have hard enamel on all sides, but touch the back of your teeth with your tongue. So in a beaver, that side is softer. So their teeth are self-sharpening because the harder marmalade-colored enameled front surface of the bottom teeth wears down the soft backside of the uppers.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So you've got yourself a whole set of mouth shivs taking down trees, ready to go. Now, according to the 2018 paper, a mathematical model of beaver incisor tooth morphology, beavers' front teeth, they just keep getting worn down and growing its whole life.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
They grow a total length of about six feet in its life, which I guess when you consider that they are an entire tool chest for building stuff, and they are also your silverware, it's kind of a worthwhile metabolic investment for the beaver. Some folks asked about diet, and I had never thought about this before because, honestly, I just figured they ate fish and frogs and stuff.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
But Eli, the fish guy, Moe, Prince Nocturnal, Amanda, Key Lime Pie, Shannon O'Grady, Jim, Ziz, Sam and Katie, and Jackie G wanted to know, in Sam and Katie's words, what do they eat? Do they eat any of the bark from the trees they use for their dams? Shannon O'Grady said, do they eat wood? Do they eat fish? And Jackie G says, do beavers really poop sawdust?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
No idea what a beaver eats, to be honest.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Oh, so the beavers followed the glaciers down in their evolution to where there was water, the beavers went.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So yes, they eat trees, people. They eat trees. And for more on the different layers inside the tree, which is the most delicious, you can see our wonderful dendrology episode with J. Casey Clapp of the Completely Arbitrary podcast. We also have a scatology episode, and that is about animal poop. Speaking of, what is a beaver log like? What's coming out of their wood chipper?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
All we are is dust in the wind. All we are is beaver scat in a pond. Jacob Ellsbury says, I've never seen a beaver before, but I see their chew marks everywhere. Where do they go? Maya wants to know, are they nocturnal or did I make that up? Sidonia wants to know, how can I increase my likelihood of seeing them?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Oh, okay. So, but get up early. When it comes to them getting up versus sleeping, a lot of folks wanted to ask about their lodges. And I did not know there was a difference really between a lodge and a dam. I don't know why I never thought about that.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Megan Walker, Adam Foote, Katie Bauer, Stephanie Rosso, Amanda Lander, Haley Kirby, Jeanetta Soar, Valerie Bertha, first-time quest asker Jean Genoir, all wanted to know what the vibe is in a beaver lodge. What's it like in there? Rebecca King wanted to know, is their lodge really impenetrable by bears? But Ghoul Next Door asked, I was always enchanted by their homes as a kid.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And I imagine they had beautifully furnished, cozy living rooms down there. But what are those dens like? And is it one big room? Is it a different little kind of nests off of one big space? Other folks wanted to know if they all kind of cohabitate with more than just their family or with other animals. Kind of what's happening in their lodges?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Okay, so Rob, already established, he's amazing. He sent me a link to Casey McFarland's video of an abandoned beaver dam. His whole YouTube channel is great, but this video is titled Inside a Beaver Lodge and Cross-Section of a Dam, where he's able to peek inside an opening that was previously underwater.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And you mentioned North America. Where else in the world do beavers live? Are they just a North American species? I feel like I should know this, but I feel like maybe zoos all over the world have beavers, but do they naturally occur in other places?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Casey scoots through some shallow water and into a clearing in this giant 10-foot mound of sticks. And inside, we see what looks like a collapsed barn. There is timber of every diameter and hard-packed mud and almost a ramp that leads to a platform toward the back.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
I gotta say, it's pretty freaking cool to see inside a beaver lodge.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Do beavers winter in their lodges or somewhere else? Do they hibernate? Joe Dauphiné and Megan Walker wanted to know about ice holes. Joe said that they had a natural history professor who said that beavers smash the ice with their head to create a path for them to swim, and then they come up and breathe during the winter months. Other people say that doesn't happen.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
But yeah, in some winter behavior, how much sleeping versus how much activity?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So when it's so cold that a beaver's habitat is too iced over to even slam their head into, they stay just in their dry above land lodge, but they take that ramp down into the water and the entrance is usually underwater. They swim underneath the ice sheets on the surface of the pond or the lake to get to their aquatic pantry of sticks to eat.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And then they swim back under the ice to the opening to their lodge. All of that when things look still on the surface. Winter for them means going so hard but looking so low-key.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
You know, you mentioned the fur, and I know that their fur has played a huge part, too, in their decline. And Catherine Vela and Gemma wanted to know, what does their fur feel like? Is it wiry or is it coarse? Megan Walker wants to know, how does it not get soaked through?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And first-time question asker Rebecca Morrison asked, what is it about beavers and their fur that made them so popular for trapping and trade? Sam and Katie asked simply... And I imagine with a tremble in their voice, is it soft? And that thickness obviously must keep them nice and dry or at least warm during the winter. Can you tell us a little bit about the fur?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
On your scalp, if you grow hair there, you've got about 150 hairs per square centimeter. Beavers have 150 times that, up to 23,000 hairs per square centimeter. And they never wash it, and it's shiny. And for product, they use an organic finishing oil sourced from their own ass sacks. Obsessed.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Well, you mentioned that fatty tail and Naya Squirrel or Nia Squirrel, first time question asker, wanted to know if you've heard what the tail tasted like and if it's true that at one time this is a highly sought after delicacy and some other folks wanted to know beaver meat. This was an audio question from one Dr. Tegan Wall.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Do people eat them? I know they're hunted and trapped for fur, but is their meat source something that's actually still sought after?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So in a Harvard University article titled, Damned If They Do, one beaver conservationist and environmental engineer, Jordan Kennedy, explained that the beaver is considered one of the fundamental animals of creation in blackfeet culture.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So when trappers started to expand west into what's now Montana, the blackfeet nations who revere the beaver were not typically willing to help them with their trapping within that territory. And as a result, the animals weren't wiped out the way they were in much of North America.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And resources at this website, blackfeetclimatechange.com, describe ecological projects in homage of the beaver, saying that beaver mimicry is this restoration technique that has been gaining popularity due to its cheap and easy and effective application.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
The fossil record dates back 33 million years with 33 beaver genera. That's not even species. So many beaver options.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So there's this pilot project that they're working on exploring the use of beaver mimicry as a restoration and educational activity in the Blackfeet Nation. However, in some places where locals are still at war with the beavers, industriousness and their architecture, trapping is legal. And folks enjoy not just the thick pelts, but the meat too.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And I found a 2022 article titled, How to Eat a Beaver. And it describes it similar to elk or bison with a deep woodsy character. And it reads that the meat is clean and sweet smelling, garnet colored and lean with a thick cap of pristine fat under the skin. As for the other eating beaver, that's a whole different episode.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And we have ones on sexology and gynecology, as well as phallology for anyone feeling left out. Why are there so many beaver innuendos? I'm glad you asked, Mouse Paxton, Pavka34, Lauren Otto, Katie Muray, G. Sharon, Annie G., Hannah Riedel, Rebecca King, Waldron, and Spencer Aldridge. So, we're all wondering, and I looked into this, right?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So, in the 1920s, a fad went around London, and a 1922 Associated Press article bore the headline, English Lord Tells of Game of Beaver, and it contained some thrillingly Bridgerton sentences. I'll read them.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Lord and Lady Mountbatten, she is one of England's prettiest and richest women, and he is King George's cousin, decided today they would attend the World Series and compare it with London's new outdoor sport, beaver. Beaver, said Lord Mountbatten, is a street game anyone can play. You walk along with a friend. If you spot a chap with a beard, you call out, "'Beaver!' That counts 15 points."
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
If it is a white beard, this is a polar beaver and counts 30. You score as in tennis, the winner makes the loser buy the drinks, and it is driving beards right out of London, Lord Mountbatten says.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Now, there was another 1922 article in the Columbia, Missouri Evening Missourian News, and it wrote that the unwhiskered have entered joyfully into the game and try to spot a beaver before their fellows. Okay, great game, got it. But then five years later...
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
A 1927 book of poetry titled Immortalia, an anthology of American ballads, sailor songs, cowboy songs, college songs, parodies, limericks, and other humorous verses in doggerel contained a limerick. It read, there once was a lady named Eva who filled up a bath to receive a. She took off her clothes from her head to her toes when a voice at the keyhole yelled, beaver.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So this book is still in print and one modern reviewer praised, this is a most fabulous collection of the smut our forefathers actually giggled about in taverns. So there you have it, from beaver to beaver to beaver. Bring that up at dinner or a New Year's party, or if there's a lull in the conversation, or maybe bring it up at Easter.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Since yes, Jen Ringney and Rowan Doyle, the Catholic Church does consider beavers to be fish because they are aquatic. And for more on all of that, to see our wonderful capybara episode because if you're Catholic, those big rodents are also fish. Nothing makes sense. Sometimes I get very mad about it. Onward.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Aveline is a first-time question asker and says they're from Canada and they've met a trapper who has an annual quota of beavers he must trap and says that without human control, they would essentially wreck our world, the human and water infrastructure.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Other patrons, Rebecca Morrison, Will, Caitlin O'Malley, Mish the Fish, Jay Shea, and Tyler Williams asked about historical trappings and the fur trade causing this steep decline in beaver populations and the sustainability of current beaver trapping. Are we trying to preserve or cull numbers? What's happening?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
That is up to 400 million beaver on the continent, down to 100,000. So over a few centuries of colonization, the percentage of beaver population remaining was one quarter of 1%. 99.75% of the beavers had been killed right off.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Do they have more than one litter each year? It seems like just a having two a year, they wouldn't be multiplying that fast, right? Or are they pretty prolific?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
You mentioned summer, too, and I had a really sweet question asked by a first-time question asker, Sarah Moore, who says that they have been listening to the show for years and have been saving their first question for the beavers episode. And they said, a few years ago, I was camping in Colorado, and I observed through binoculars a group of beavers swimming around and playing with a duck.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And they say, I don't know how else to describe it, but they were all swimming around and doing little splashes and twirls and playing. Maybe I'm projecting, Sarah writes, but it looked like they were having so much fun. My question is, am I crazy? Do beavers play? And is it possible they'd ever play with another species?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Christy Sullivan was another listener who says, just a side note, that there's a beaver that lives in the creek that runs through the neighborhood. And they say, we love him. It's a highlight of our walks to see him swimming around with the ducks and geese. I guess maybe they do love ducks and geese.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Huge beavers, bear-sized beavers, and some that dug spiral tunnels. They are gone, but they are never going to be forgotten. Please tell all of your friends.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Go figure. I guess they do play around. Knowing that they do play, that you have seen that. Someone else, a first-time question asker, Fiona Blum, who's been waiting for this topic also, wondered if you had heard of the beaver deceiver devices and are the beavers outsmarting us? It seems like they might be. Can they be strategic like that? And have you heard of these beaver deceiver devices?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Okay, so I assumed that a beaver deceiver was some kind of ultrasonic technology that made beavers think that a culvert was haunted. But it turns out that Skip Lyle, a one-time construction worker who later got his master's in wildlife management, inspired by beavers, he invented a kind of fencing system around these big drain pipes for streams.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
that prevents the beavers from jamming up the culverts themselves. But it still lets the water flow under the road because beavers, they love a big pipe with water. They love it.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
A lot of people had queries about parachutes. And some people might know this, some people might not. But Jenny Rounds and Andrea Levinson, Nikki Aki, Jen Squirrel Alvarez, Therese, Erin White, all wanted to know. In Andrea's words, I'm begging you to ask about the parachute reintroduction efforts from the 40s and parachuting beavers.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Was that ever a rabbit hole that you went down in terms of what's going on here?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
I cannot imagine a beaver so big. That's unfathomable to me. Not unsurprising, but what about modern day beavers? Let's say the North American ones, or I'm not sure they differ much with Eurasian, but how big are they? If I were to, let's say, just be blessed with the ability to hold a beaver, is it like a sack of potatoes? Are they smaller than we think?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So like an expensive cafe that suddenly pops up in your neighborhood full of gas station coffee, a beaver can change the ecosystem of an area.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And many people, Autumn Nikosin, Keegan Newman, Rowan Tree, Aver, Zink, Melissa Dewoskin, Olivia Rempel, Smiley Kylie, Maria Schoener, Juliet, Stratford Abbott, Emily Totaro, Amanda, Abby Lawson, Megan Radcliffe, Issa Party, and Ghoul Next Door wondered about the beaver's role in engineering ecosystems as a keystone species. which is an ecological term for being the main character.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Child fam and Shannon Strom, in Child's words, they say, are beavers the answer? My husband is a fish biologist and feels that in terms of habitat restoration and protecting rivers and the species that live in them, beavers are the answer. Is this true? And are beavers also just generally the answer because they're great?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And Shannon Strom wanted to know, should we think of them as nature's miracles against global warming? Is making sure that beavers are protected also protective for us?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
I can't even get my head around because I see them from so far away if I ever get to see them.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So 2014, Brangelina gets wed. Gwyneth Paltrow famously consciously uncouples. The first season of True Detective premieres. It was a very big year for tight jeans, Iggy Azalea, and Ebola. But it was also very memorable for the beaver.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
He's a coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation's Montana Beaver Working Group, and he knows so much about beavers. So he spoke to me one morning from his chilly house in the Swan Valley outside of Missoula, Montana. He was wearing a coat and a hat, and a warm smile. And we just we had the loveliest time chatting beavers as I knew that we would. So we're going to get to it in a moment.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And how do beavers need more castorologists out there? Zoe Dunham, first-time quest jasker, Lisa Nyhuls, Andy Pepper, and Celia Stanislaw wanted to know, in Zoe's words, how does one get into researching beavers? If someone's interested in beaver ecology, what things they could study or what you do when you're working with tracking organizations?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Is there a part of working with beaver tracking that is either annoying or just the most difficult part?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Yeah. So invasive species, a bunch of weird weeds getting all tangled up in the ecology. And for more on how to eat some of those, the weeds, not the beavers, you can see our foraging ecology episode with Alexis Nelson, aka Black Forager. Or to learn how to basket weave some of those weeds, you can see our recent canistermology episode with James Bamba.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Now, before I ask about the highlights of Rob's life, one thing is nagging at me and I can't stop thinking about it. Also, when do people say beavers versus beaver?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Okay. I want to make sure I wasn't doing it wrong. But what about your favorite thing about beavers or beaver?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
um thank you so much for just telling us everything you know about beaver and beavers and i already loved them and not just because they're cute i think they're just cool in general so thank you so much for everything you do and for talking to me yes thank you um So ask beaver geniuses deep and shallow questions and may fortune find you in the midst of these critters. They're majestic.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Thank you again so much to Rob Rich for talking to me. So worth the wait. And to find out more about the tracker certification, North America, you can see the link in the show notes as well as a link to our website at alleyward.com slash ologies slash castorology, which has so many more links to research and other resources that we mentioned in the show.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
We are at ologies on Instagram and out blue sky. I'm at alleyward on both. We also have shorter kid-friendly versions of Ologies Classic episodes in case you need G-rated ones. They're available anywhere where you get podcasts. You can just subscribe to Smologies and look for the new green logo. We also linked in the show notes. Ologies merch is available at ologiesmerch.com.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And to join the Patreon, head to patreon.com slash ologies. Thank you to Aaron Talbert for adminning Theology's podcast Facebook group. Thank you, Aveline Malick, for making our professional transcripts. Kelly R. Dwyer makes the website. Scheduling producer Noelle Dilworth worked for two and a half years to get this one on the books. Susan Hale managing directs the whole show.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Jake Chafee edits beautifully and joining him just as busy and chill as a beaver is lead editor Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio. Nick Thorburn wrote the theme music. And if you stick around till after the credits, thank you for listening. Here's a secret that the other people don't know.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
So in 2017, I was toying with this format for Ologies and I was trying to figure out just what the show would be. And I had a few trusted friends listen to some early drafts of episodes. And one, Dr. Tegan Wall, who was a neuroscientist and a screenwriter,
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
She took a listen and one suggestion that she still maintains is that the show should have a cold open, that little stinger at the top with an excerpt as like a soundbite sample. And I've never done it until this episode. And so I'm doing it in honor of her. So you can let me know on Patreon if you like it. Teagues, you can just text me about it.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
But meanwhile, I had the best cookies of my life at our friend Aubrey and with a, I think a family recipe, and I'm gonna give it to you now. Don't write it down if you're driving. Wait until after. You can come back later, rewind, find this, then jot it down. Okay, so these are thumbprint cookies with like jam in the center, but the cookie is so soft. There's cream cheese in the dough.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
I ate like 10 of them. Okay. These are cream cheese cookies. Ready? Two cups unsalted butter, eight ounces cream cheese, two cups of sugar, two egg yolks, one teaspoon of vanilla, two teaspoons of salt, five cups of flour. Do the wet stuff. You add the dry stuff. Chill overnight. And then you roll into balls and you indent and you put some jam in the middle. Bake at 400, 8 to 10 minutes.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
You know what weighs a pound? Like a big apple or an orange. A baby beaver the size of a piece of fruit. In fact, one rehabber site I went to described them thusly. A healthy kit looks like a large fuzzy softball with a rubber-like tail. They're so tiny. How many are in a litter?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Honestly, the best cookies I've ever had. Please enjoy. Be safe. Happy holidays. Be kind to beavers. Bye-bye.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And they're monogamous? How long do they tend to stick together for?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Beavers. They love love. We love them for it. Although some North American beavers do cheat, I found out. But the Eurasian ones are pretty much totally loyal. But beavers co-parent, which is more than we can say for a lot of bitter couples that I see posting on TikTok.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
I'm so glad that you brought up that gland because I'm boggled by it. And I didn't know that castoreum was a product necessarily. Is it really used for things like artificial vanilla and strawberry and raspberry? Is there any known history on how humans realized that these scent mounds and that these secretions from beavers would be delicious additives to things?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
But first, thank you to all the patrons at patreon.com slash ologies who submitted questions for this. You too can join for as little as a dollar a month to support the show. Thanks for everyone in ologies merch at ologiesmerch.com. And to everyone who reviews the show, which helps us so much, it costs you $0.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Okay, so I looked into this and castoreum is again, not in the anal glands, but in these different pouches near there. And yes, both male and female beavers make it. Everyone makes it. Not you, but beavers do. And this unctuous, creamy orange substance has vanilla notes and suggests the smell of an old leather chair and a den full of antique books.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And I've read that's owing to all the trees that kind of make their way through beaver guts. And you can gently milk castoreum from a beaver, but that is seen as very rude to many beavers. So sadly, most of it comes from trappers who harvest the sack. And they sometimes let that sack dry out and mellow for a few years before grinding it up.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Now, other than actively seeking it out, you're not likely to find castoreum like hiding in your foods. It's just much cheaper to use actual vanilla or artificial vanilla flavor, a lot easier to harvest. So it's rare to find anything with castoreum on a shelf.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Although that liquor that Rob mentioned, it sounds extremely German in concept, and its name has umlauts, and it translates to beaver howl, but it's actually Swedish. And my dear friend Simone Jetsch happens to be both Swedish and in Sweden. And so I texted her and her mom at an ungodly time for me, but it was a normal person time for Sweden.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And I asked if this was like a common beverage and she was like, no, no, I've never heard of that. But there's this place called Tamworth Distillery in the US and they do offer an eau de musk beaver gland perfumed whiskey in case you need to get your hands and your tongues on that. Why would you though?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Well, it's supposed to be tasty, but also for thousands of years it was used to treat gout and fevers and headaches and other ailments. But the 1969 publication Pliny's Pheromonic Abortifacients in the journal Science says that castoreum used as an incense could provide the termination of a pregnancy. according to the Roman naturalist Pliny, who lived in the first century AD.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
What else was used back then as family planning? Well, your other options were looking at a viper, holding a raven's egg, stepping over a beaver, Or letting pass into your crotch the fumes from an ass's house. And the paper notes parenthetically donkey stable.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
But thanks to several thousand years of progress medically, one need not dance over a beaver or invite donkey fumes up your tunic because there are pharmaceuticals now. But while here in the US, many states have rolled back access to that health care to pre-castoreum in a lantern times. But anyway, rodent secretions, many uses throughout the years.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
I read them all, such as this week's from Maximilie, who wrote, I have been a dedicated listener since the inception of this podcast in 2017. Max, seven and a half years. You're a real one. I like you. Thank you for that. Thank you to everyone who leaves reviews. And thank you also to sponsors of the show who make it possible to donate to a cause selected by the guest each week. So one sec.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
But no, your birthday cake flavored lip gloss does not have beaver butt in it. You're good.
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
And you can smell it when you're out looking for beavers or if you're out in the fields. Is it something like the breeze shifts and then suddenly you can smell a mound?
Ologies with Alie Ward
Castorology (BEAVERS) with Rob Rich
Do you have any idea how far away you are from a beaver right now? Like where you live in the Swan Valley, do you know when I cross this bridge into town, there's a dam or a lodge there? Are you pretty aware of where they are in your local environment?