How Beavers Engineer The Land | George Monbiot

Beavers bring life to rivers and the land. Beavers are ecosystem engineers that help to mitigate floods and droughts, reduce forest fires, and create habitats for all kinds of animals. North American tribes revered the beaver. They knew that the landscapes beavers created are the ‘earths kidneys’, purifying water and regulating its flow. They noticed that beavers are highly social creatures who live in their lodges built of sticks in tight family groups. They saw that the adults go to great lengths to care for their offspring. Aunts and uncles from earlier litters look after the youngest kits. They carry them away from danger, clasped to their chests with their front paws. They warn them of aquatic predators by slapping their tails on the water. They bring green food to the kits, when they are too small to leave their lodge. They cuddle them and call gently to them. For these reasons, Native Americans called them the ‘little people.’ Using stones, branches and mud with astonishing ingenuity, they construct first one and then a series of small dams. Wherever they find a leak, they stop it up. Before long, even small seasonal streams start to look like mountain rice paddies dammed up with wood: a series of stepped pools, surrounded by wetlands. These are phenomenally rich habitats, that abound with life: harboring an abundance of insects, and great concentrations of frogs, small mammals and waterbirds.