Logo
Prev
Bookmark
Rotate
Print
Next
Contents
All Pages
Related Articles
Browse Issues
Help
Search
Home
'
National Geographic : 1916 Nov
Contents
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE tween individuals and companies, and even caused jealous rivalries among the Dutch, Eng lish, and French colonies. Disputes over the right to trade in certain districts often led to bloodshed, and even to long wars, over great areas, where powerful rival companies fought for the control of a new empire. This eager competition among daring adventurers resulted in the constant ex tension of trading posts through the North and West, until the vanguard of civilization reached the far borders of the continent on the shores of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. Among the fur traders the beaver skin be came the unit of value by which barter was conducted for all sorts of commodities. This usage extended even throughout northern Alaska, where it was current among the Amer ican fur traders until the discovery of gold there upset old standards. Beavers belong to the rodent family-a group of animals notable for their weak mental pow ers. The beaver is the striking exception to the rule, and its extraordinary intelligence, in dustry, and skill have long. excited admiration. It is scarcely -entitled to the almost superhu man intelligence many endow it with, yet it certainly possesses surprising ability along cer tain lines. Furthermore, it can alter its habits promptly when a change in environment ren ders this advantageous. In wild places, where rarely disturbed, beavers are unsuspicious, but where they are much trapped they become amazingly alert and can be taken only by the most skillful trapping. They are very proficient in building narrow dams of sticks, mud, and small stones across small streams for the purpose of backing up water and making "beaver ponds." In the border of these ponds a conical lodge is usually con structed of sticks and mud. It is several feet high and about 8 or 10 feet across at the base. The entrance is usually under water, and a passageway leads to an interior chamber large enough to accommodate the pair and their well-grown young. From the ponds the ani mals sometimes dig narrow canals several hun dred feet long back through the flats among the trees. Having short legs and heavy bodies, and consequently being awkward on land, beavers save themselves much labor by con structing canals for transporting the sticks and branches needed for food and for repairing their houses and dams. Along the Colorado, lower Rio Grande, and other streams with high banks and variable water level, beavers usually dig tunnels lead ing from an entrance well under water to a snug chamber in the bank above water level. Under the varying conditions in different areas they make homes showing every degree of in tergradation between the two types described. Beavers live almost entirely on twigs and bark, and their gnawing powers are surpris ing. Where small trees less than a foot in diameter abound they are usually chosen, but the animals do not hesitate to attack large trees. On the headwaters of the San Francisco River, in western New Mexico. I saw a cotton- wood nearly 30 inches in diameter that had been felled so skillfully that it had fallen with the top in the middle of a small beaver pond, thus assuring an abundance of food for the animals at their very door. In the cold northern parts of their range, where streams and ponds remain frozen for months at a time, beavers gather freshly cut green twigs, sticks, and poles, which they weight down with mud and stones on the bot toms of ponds or streams near their houses, to be used for food during the shut-in period. The mud used by beavers in building dams and houses is scooped up and carried against the breast, the front feet being used like hands. The flat tail serves as a rudder when the ani mal is swimming or diving, and to strike the surface of the water a resounding slap as a danger signal. Beavers are usually nocturnal, but in dis tricts where not disturbed they sometimes come out to work by day, especially late in the after noon. Among the myriads of small streams and lakes in the great forested area north of Quebec they are very plentiful; their dams and houses are everywhere, sometimes four or five houses about one small lake. Their well-worn trails lead through the woods near the lake shores and frequently cross portages between lakes several hundred yards apart. Where beavers continue to occupy streams in settled districts, they often make regular trails from a slide on the river bank back to neighbor ing cornfields, where they feast on the succulent stalks and green ears. They also injure or chards planted near their haunts, by girdling or felling the trees. Within recent years laws for their protection have been passed in many States, and beavers have been reintroduced in a number of localities. They should not be colonized in streams flowing through lands used for orchards or cornfields, nor where the available trees are too few to afford a con tinuous food supply. FISHER, OR PEKAN (Mustela pennanti) The fisher is one of the largest and hand somest members of the weasel family. Like others of this group, it is a long-bodied, short legged animal. It attains an extreme length of from3to32feetandaweightofI8or20 pounds, but the average is decidedly lower than these figures. In general, it is like a gigantic marten, and from its size and dark color is sometimes known locally as the "black cat" or "black fox." It lives in the forested parts of Canada and the United States, where it originally occurred from the southern shores of Hudson Bay and Great Slave Lake south throughout most of eastern Canada and New England and along the Alleghanies to Tennessee; also in the Great Lakes region, south to the southern end of Lake Michigan; along the Rocky Mountains to Wyoming, down the Cascades to northern Cal ifornia, and from the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia and Maine to the Pacific coast of south eastern Alaska and British Columbia. They 444
Links
Archive
1916 Dec
1916 Oct
Navigation
Previous Page
Next Page
