Recommended reading on beavers?

September 13, 2022 7:03 AM

I am looking for recommendations on books about beavers. I would like to learn more about beavers, and I'm hoping someone out there has encountered some fantastic books that will inform and also be a pleasure to read.

I am aware of the commercial importance in Canada over a period of time, I'm really interested in how they live through a year and what contributes to their engineering skills in building dams. Over the past summer I have seen first-hand the scope of dam work they are capable of and I'd like to learn more, short of living in a tent for a year to observe them.

posted by elkevelvet to Science & Nature (10 answers total)

Not a book but a nice (freely accessible) scholarly review article The general ecology of beavers (Castor spp.), as related to their influence on stream ecosystems and riparian habitats, and the subsequent effects on fish – a review

Here's another that focuses specifically on dam engineering.

I know you're interested in dams, but they also build canals, and they have received much less study and attention, so here's an article about that too. All of these are pretty readable, hope they help.

Fun fact: they use audible cues as a primary means of making dams leak-tight. So if you have a recording of a babbling brook and play it from a small concealed speaker near a dam, the beavers will think it's a leak and start stacking sticks on it!
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:25 AM on September 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

I have not read it, but Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter got a lot of positive attention and awards when it came out a couple of years ago.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:26 AM on September 13, 2022 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: I knew this was the right place to ask, thanks!!

re: canals, from the dam activity I've been observing this summer I can see that canals feature prominently. The dam is just one aspect of a major undertaking, I think the area I'm visiting is remote enough that they've had a few seasons to develop things. It's also interesting to see how the trails/slides they develop as they transport material down to the main site become integrated into the game trail network, used by deer etc,
posted by elkevelvet at 7:32 AM on September 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have read Eager (twice!) and highly recommend it. Also, this video (link to Twitter) by biologist Emily Fairfax is charming and demonstrates the awesomeness of beavers in this age of wildfires.
posted by sk932 at 7:49 AM on September 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

My husband, who is a mefite and would be gleefully chiming in here if he weren't on a backcountry camping trip, loved Eager when he read it last summer, and continues to incessantly share insights from the book whenever we're in a landscape that needs more beavers (spoiler: basically everywhere.)

If you have a middle-grade potential beaver enthusiast in your life, my daughter really enjoyed this one.
posted by juliapangolin at 7:52 AM on September 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

I have not read it, but Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter got a lot of positive attention and awards when it came out a couple of years ago.

I should add that although I have not yet read the full book, several pieces of Ben Goldfarb's book were excerpted as articles (or were written as articles before becoming part of the book), and have been the subject of FPPs here before: Example FPP

Another example FPP that used one of his articles about salmon restoration in the Columbia Basin: link

He is an important and very skilled writer on this subject.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:15 AM on September 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

Beaver, by Rachel Poliquin.
posted by Hellgirl at 8:55 AM on September 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

I study the effects of beavers on urban streams here in the US Southeast. Eager is great. If you want to learn more about the ecological benefits of beavers, the US Fish and Wildlife Service Beaver Restoration Guidebook is pretty great (also free).
posted by hydropsyche at 4:40 PM on September 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

Oh, also, a bit more history focused is Once They Were Hats
posted by hydropsyche at 4:44 PM on September 13, 2022 [1 favorite]

There is a recent installment of True Facts about the Beaver, if you are compatible with zefrank1's naughty naughty humor. As usual, it is surprisingly informative.
posted by polecat at 5:18 PM on September 13, 2022 [1 favorite]