KNOWLEDGE BASE

Researchers worked out how to tell the age of beavers by looking at their bones. They found that beavers take a long time, up to 12 years, to fully develop their skeletons, probably because they live in water. This slow development allowed them to divide beaver skeletons into five age groups: young, middle-aged, and old adults, as well as juveniles and subadults. Alongside other ageing methods such as analysing beaver teeth, this will help studying beavers in the wild and in history.

Pollution from human and animal waste can spread diseases to wild animals. This article looks at how two parasites affect various land and sea mammals, wild and captive. The analysis is based on different animals' fecal samples, including beavers. The disease caused by one of the parasites is sometimes called 'beaver fever' in North America because beavers are often implicated in its spread.

In efforts to restore habitats for Pacific salmon, wood structures are often placed in streams to encourage beaver activity. This is because beaver dams create pools for young salmon. This study discovered that beavers used only three types of structure in the Bear River, USA, to build dams. The researchers developed a model to predict which structure beavers were likely to use, based on the features of the structures and their environment. This helps design better wood placement projects for salmon habitat restoration.

This article explores the role of small streams, often found in hilly or mountainous areas. These streams usually don't carry much dirt or debris. Heavy rains can lead to more sediment flow. Tree-felling can, too, as well as leading to more landslides. When temporary ponds form, beavers sometimes occupy them, leading to longer-term changes to the sediment flow of these systems.

This text reports on correspondence between the author and Scottish authorities on the hold-up in making a decision about the Knapdale Forest beaver trial. Please note, this resource is not open-access.