KNOWLEDGE BASE

This research explored the objectives, opinions, and experiences of people who had licenced beaver enclosures in England. It found that these people had varying motivations for managing an enclosure and the beaver(s) within, as well as different perceptions of whether such beavers could be considered ‘wild’. The research also collected twenty-three different beaver behaviours, or activities, that licensees had observed.

Scientists isolated bacteria from the abscesses and lungs of three Eurasian beavers found dead in Germany. This paper documents the methodology they used to isolate, genetically analyse, and test the antibiotic resistance of these bacteria. From a public health perspective, it is important to understand the extent to which beavers can be considered reservoirs of different bacteria.

Beavers have transformed 26% and 48% of two river systems in the Volga Upland, Russia. Their dam-building activity was concentrated in areas with mild to medium gradients. This article described how their dams relate to different features of the river system, including photos of some of the different dams, which varied in shape and size.

A survey of 1,114 people in central Italy found that beavers had been welcomed by the vast majority of people surveyed. Most participants were able to distinguish beavers from the non-native coypu. 65.5% of people surveyed supported beavers' reintroduction, while only 1.2% firmly opposed it. Some respondents cited fears about beavers' impacts on rivers, crops, and fish.

This article examined the metaphor of the beaver dam in a play called Okinum by Émilie Monnet, an indigenous Canadian artist. The author argued that the dam can be understood from diverse perspectives, representing the impacts of colonialism on the protagonist's family and land, but also as a symbol of protection and cultural security, drawing on indigenous Anishinaabe tradition. The article develops an argument that Monnet created a "theory of the beaver" at the heart of the play. Please note, this resource is not open access.