Why beavers matter as the planet heats up

Beaver dams are cool(ing the air).
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If you know anything about beavers, it’s probably that they build dams. These giant structures made of sticks, stones, and mud can reach heights up to 10 feet (3 meters) and lengths averaging 20 feet (6 meters) - though the biggest one ever found was significantly larger and could be seen from space. Dams completely alter the surrounding landscape, flooding the surrounding area and creating wetlands. It’s one reason beavers have often been considered pests that can cause serious damage when they build dams too close to homes or roads.
But scientists have also understood beavers’ importance as “ecosystem engineers” for decades. And as the climate crisis continues to worsen, newer studies are finding that beavers play a vital role in dampening its effects - especially in areas prone to fire, drought, and even heat waves. To build a more resilient future, it might be best to look to the beavers.
Check out the video above to learn more, and read the related article by Benji Jones on Vox.com: www.vox.com/down-to-earth/232...
Note: this video's thumbnail has been updated since its original publication.
You can find Emily’s study on how beaver dams create fire breaks here: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wil...
For more about the work that Emily does (and the miraculous work of beavers), check out her website: emilyfairfaxscience.com/resea...
For more on how beaver dams reduce stream temperature and increase groundwater storage: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wil...
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[@Vox]

Okay, fine. The full video from Idaho Fish and Game about parachuting beavers is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4Gvq2WYidWlg6M And for more information on how they did it (down to the specialized boxes) … well, you can find that here: www.boisestatepublicradio.org/environment/2015-01-14/parachuting-beavers-into-idahos-wilderness-yes-it-really-happened -Kim

[@demoralize4730]

Let's be honest. The number 1 component of carbon emission is not the automobile or the factory, it's the human being. You take away the human and by domino effect, you take away the automobile and the factory. There is but 1 solution here and we must all embrace it.

[@thepilgrim1581]

Why beavers matter? 😂 Fish is far more important. We can't eat Beavers.

[@letsdoodlesomethinghome3404]

@@thepilgrim1581 - spoken by a human 😂

[@thepilgrim1581]

@@letsdoodlesomethinghome3404 Lol 😂

[@jonchan5203]

Is Kim from Philly? The way she says water is so distinct

[@terramater]

Sounds familiar - probably the number 1 conclusion we end up with every video we make: let nature thrive and do its job! - Go beavers!

[@joeyshondell8440]

We are also inherently managers of the land and should follow native burning and managment processes! I get your point though

[@TheebX92]

Climate change is a hoax

[@dustman96]

Yeah, the biggest mistake we make is thinking we need to manage nature. Leave it be and it will manage itself better than we could ever hope to manage it. There are a couple exceptions, such as removing invasive species and reintroduction of certain species, but this must be done very carefully.

[@fandroid6491]

When a bullet train is inspired by owl feathers, Adelie penguin bellies, and kingfisher beaks you know it's gonna be good.

[@dustman96]

@Caiden Sorry, I'm not exactly sure what you mean, what about them?

[@hechss]

Good thing that legislation starts to acknowledge the good that wild animals do to our environment.

[@Seamcream]

When you say "our environment" do you consider it's theirs also?

[@letsdoodlesomethinghome3404]

@@Seamcream I mean, I suppose.. that’s why it’s *ours,* ours can be everyone or a specific group tho- but I like to consider it an everyone ‘our’

[@danksanchez4324]

@@Seamcream obviously but it is still our environment, humanity is still part of the ecosystem

[@WindTunnelRacing]

They have Cut over 200 Trees around my pond, and Destroyed the Area. 200 Wonderful Trees. YOU REALLY want to say they are helpful?? Jeez these Vox Videos are so short sighted. Especially anything economics based.

[@farisizzudin5859]

I wish this could become a series of its own. Like how every species contribute to their surrounding ecosystem and how it affect climate in general. Very little known fact about them and i think that in itself would raise a lot of awareness towards conservation

[@Asher8328]

Beavers are a lot better caretakers of the planet than we are.

[@rogosobe]

@Asher8328 Let's agree that Planet Earth has just one single problem: humans.

[@jacksonshelby2460]

@@rogosobe yeah, we’re not the caretakers, more like the bad guys killing everyone

[@DjokovicIsOurLordAndSaviour]

Yeah, we are a very low bar haha. Beavers are great though.

[@WindTunnelRacing]

They have Cut over 200 Trees around my pond, and Destroyed the Area. 200 Wonderful Trees. YOU REALLY want to say they are helpful?? Jeez these Vox Videos are so short sighted. Especially anything on economics.

[@leigel3]

Oh cry me a river. You can't get more shortsighted than being unable to see past yourself.

[@skycat04]

Wherever they are being reintroduced in Europe (they almost vanished from the continent completely; because of us, of course), they are bringing back life to those regions instantly. Little, messy, green angels! 🌊🌱🌾🌿

[@mathill18]

Growing up in Canada 🇨🇦 I think this video really spoke to me. I’ve had the privilege of growing up with these animals and seeing them first hand is amazing!. We must protect these environmental heroes at all costs!.

[@originstory-earth]

I'd heard beavers were a key species, but didn't understand why. Thanks for this! Super interesting!

[@dustman96]

You heard right, they are incredible! There are some good documentaries out there about them.

[@Siddhartha040107]

Keystone Species is the correct term. Just like humans they greatly affect their surroundings.

[@WindTunnelRacing]

They have Cut over 200 Trees around my pond, and Destroyed the Area. 200 Wonderful Trees. YOU REALLY want to say they are helpful?? Jeez these Vox Videos are so short sighted.

[@nottherealben]

@@WindTunnelRacing L

[@angel1895]

Beavers RAISE the water table!! They're super important for local ecosystems. It's terribly sad that people just consider them a nuisance. ESPECIALLY in areas that are suffering with drought!

[@Megan-nt7dm]

Slowing water down is a critical part of replenishing groundwater, keeping forests healthy and generally doing good things. For anyone interested, permaculture makes use of this to replenish water on farms

[@Thebreakdownshow1]

This is the best thumbnail Vox could have made or should is say the thumbnail is COOL.

[@anonykip]

I absolutely love beavers. They’re really fascinating creatures, there’s a family of them living in the provincial park near me and the entire area where they build their dams is just teeming with wildlife.

[@user-cf3lp7gf7k]

I couldn't even imagine that such small animals can help us. That's wonderful and gripping. Thanks to you I discovered new facts. I totally agree that people should allow beavers to have a go at running smoothly. They are conscientious and help other animals. Now I admire them much more. I swell with pride watching what important job beavers do. It's challenging

[@kasrakhatir]

"Two beavers are better than one" -Robin Sparkles

[@rickgrivera]

"Buckle up because I just learned something weird and now you need to know it, too" is frankly my favorite way of starting any conversation.

[@jox5504]

This is a perfect video. No question about it.

[@SophiaTheDork]

My respect for beavers has skyrocketed 🙏🏻

[@arjunsh4rma]

fr fr

[@sasentaiko]

Not all parts of the world have beavers. We are pretty lucky to share space with nature’s most determined engineers.

[@clickeric]

Beavers are a keystone species, they are amazing and adorable :)

[@MsLindsayBoo]

Beavers are incredible animals. Living in California, we don't have much contact with them, so they often get overlooked when thinking about local animal life, but they are productive animals who make an incredible contribution to the surrounding habitat.

[@armyllego]

i love just how u can see emily's love for beavers in her smile

[@Flor-ian]

The one issue I see them running into is scalability

[@MelkorPT]

With the proper steroid regimen you can get seriously ripped beavers.

[@ssor]

I watched a video on this subject that talked about a plan to replicate the work beavers do, but “artificially”. Our strength as a species is we can see things like this, do what we can to encourage the natural process, learn from it, and replicate it ourselves.

[@tommyswain3762]

@@MelkorPT I like your thinking.

[@crazypvpHow]

@@MelkorPT Bull shark testosterone as well

[@pushing2throttles]

We wouldn't have to move to the dead planet of Mars if we'd just learn to live in synchrony with nature. Beavers like hippos, like elephants, like orangutans are a keystone species. Engineers. Necessary

[@elishaforrester1150]

💯 precisely

[@Josh-qv3zu]

Human life needs to be multiplanetary in the future to guarantee our species survival. Even if we turn earth around and global warming becomes non existent and all the trash is out of the oceans major life extinction events will still happen. Could be an asteroid in 200 years that wipes out every living thing or maybe Yellowstone super volcano explodes and kills 99% of life. Being multiplanetary gives us a greater shot at surviving life ending events.

[@MarkWTK]

hippos and orangutans are key stone species? 😮 today I learned. my country is home to orangutans 😀

[@dosadoodle]

And anyone who thinks we're going to colonize Mars in any meaningful way is deluding themselves. Air pressure on Mars is

[@halfpanbread-bread820]

Taken up the topic as a hobby, have an in depth understanding of orbital mechanics and nuclear propulsion and nuclear reactors and environmental control and life support design and ecology, play orbiter 2016, etc, colonization of space is perfectly viable. Don’t want to say it(that’s a lie) but the idea that we can’t colonize Mars is the Dunning Kruger effect talking. Also, I am very tired.

[@Virtrial]

I remember I loved to run around in marshy areas near creeks as a kid, the beavers made it an interesting and challenging environment to traverse but that was a good thing. Felt like a game trying to jump from patches of dry land to logs and stumps sticking out of the water to move through :)

[@Azeria]

VOX titles are usually pretty great as you’d expect, but my god is this one beautiful

[@KatsyFNF]

This can definitely refresh dead or dry dirt, and help the environment, we need more beavers.

[@mikkosaarinen3225]

I think we could take the message about messy streams to heart in other areas as well. A lot of trouble with humans seems to stem from us wanting to turn messy and complex things into neat and simple packages. I think that's a tendency we should resist wholesale because like nature, truth resists simplicity.

[@piopio6266]

Beavers can wreak havoc in ecosystems where they are not from. Patagonia is the best example of this. So let's let beavers do their thing... Without taking them to other places!

[@dscrive]

I totally agree with not introducing non-native species. with regards to beavers, the issue is that massive areas have had all the beavers killed out of existence, so we just want to put them back where they used to be.

[@piopio6266]

@@dscrive oh yes definitely! I'm saying this because I wouldn't be shocked if someone came up with a program to put beavers wherever. There's been too many of those kinds of projects in history.

[@emead528]

Non-native plants and birds cause damage as well.

[@toddmigchelbrink8022]

This was great, thank you! Shared it with my 5th and 6th graders here in Oregon. They loved it. Appropriate and entertaining for school-aged kids -- thank you for this.

[@thiaggodiniz]

Thanks for providing information in Celsius!

[@osmia]

+++

[@jcoats5529]

I'm Canadian and love beavers

[@kenzokenzo]

I love beavers

[@jacksonshelby2460]

I love beavers!

[@sixcos]

Amazing model work! Well done.

[@footmasteranay]

As an engineer I love beavers

[@bootscats2928]

I moved to Idaho right after the huge fire and it's terrible to see the change in the landscape

[@mrsmucha]

Great video! Thank you for posting it.

[@mikesvideosofbeavers]

Beavers are incredibly cool and incredibly important. Thanks for the video ❤️🦫❤️🦫❤️

[@Wasserkaktus]

I learned all this after playing Timberborn, thanks Vox.

[@mxmissy]

I'm curious how this could work for places like Australia where our bushfires happen way too often. We don't have beavers here, we have platypus but they don't build dams the same way beavers do.

[@HypoMix]

Check out The Mulloon Institute. They achieve a similar result restoring natural vegetation and logs to create leaky weirs

[@chloebetony2219]

Aus needs to let Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have more say in land management - cool fires create fire breaks which mean that when bushfires happen naturally, they are less like to spread as far and be so destructive - the recommended video in the end card of this video shows how native Americans do the same thing - good for people, wildlife and forests!

[@poluxsaurus1454]

In principle, you wouldn't want to take beavers (or any other species) where they don't belong. A few were brought to Southern Patagonia several decades ago, they got totally out of control and are making a huge mess.

[@peggyjones3282]

There is a guy who was working with the Australian landscape and creating swales and other things. He's done amazing work-- without the risk of introducing non- native species. You should look his work up. (Don't remember his name, but you could find videos with a simple search.)

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@chloebetony2219 this!!

[@KNYD]

SURPRISE! All parts of an ecosystem play a role. Who knew?

[@barixyleben3952]

Cool, let the beavers be & build 👍.

[@jam120509]

I love this feature video. Good job Kim

[@DoiTBiG911]

Learned something new and enlightening today! Thank you!☺️

[@inesgutierrez8534]

I LOVE your work

[@Bxu021]

I rarely hear about beavers, this is pretty cool information!

[@greghuffman3061]

I used to be in a WOW clan, i know how it is

[@carolinewilhite6362]

Beavers are so amazing!

[@dumbstuff2809]

Beavers are amazing.

[@dexterosity]

That is awesome. Beavers, the little heroes.

[@tylerhackner9731]

Thank you for this vid

[@ggchiu7400]

I thought beavers were okay to kinda cool at most before. Now i think theyre SUPER COOL thanks vox

[@vinaypillai2278]

Nice presentation!

[@franciscreer8869]

This is one the most random thing I've ever seen but also one of the most amazing facts!

[@joshuagcwong734]

Beavers are chill like dat.

[@13thravenpurple94]

Great work 🥳 Thank yyyyou 💜

[@skpjoecoursegold366]

Beavers...................................my new heroes.

[@Coconutthefirst]

Thanks now I know where I would know where to go swimming next summer

[@FarbotBurunetNia]

Thank you.

[@bobjoe3665]

Wow I love beavers

[@tobygoodguy4032]

They also make great coats. We still have my grandma's 1930's mint two-toned striped. 🤠

[@dscrive]

Since at least 2014 I've been saying we need more beavers. I've spent several summers in New Mexico and seen first hand the devastation caused by the wildfires. I found it intuitive that beavers would reduce the damage caused by wildfires. I'm glad to see more information being spread about them because I have neither the background nor the reach to spread the word effectively.

[@karlheinzamigable5770]

Never thought a rodent would do this.

[@Currygoatpapi]

It’s called the cycle of life

[@janelightning73]

Excellent!

[@kittu7315]

I love beavers, they make up cool dams

[@onerva.]

oh wow I only saw a bit on TV yesterday about how this has been tried here in Finland, how introducing beavers into new areas has improved the ecosystem. I don't think any of them were parachuted though, alas.

[@drmodestoesq]

There are a lot of beavers in northern Ontario in Canada....and a lot of Finns.

[@johnshephard222]

Beavers are amazing!

[@e11e7en]

Thank you for this video. It’s time that humanity collaborate with nature rather than wage war with it!

[@elishaforrester1150]

💯

[@luga7430]

You better stop driving a car then bossman

[@jhenryproductionz6388]

@@luga7430 I wouldn't mind walking but every government would rather put road instead of sidewalks

[@catarinabarbosa2247]

love the diorama

[@robinstevenson6690]

excellent, dudettes!!!

[@vdjKryptosRock]

🫡 🫡 🫡 Respect to these little eco warriors!

[@charlieg2262]

My favourite part of a Vox video is the scripted sit-down at the beginning of someone talking

[@xxghost_sniperxx950]

Haha

[@peterfrost5475]

Very good video, in the UK we are going very slow on the reintroducing beavers, but it is slowly starting. However most are still in enclosures.

[@kavaskous]

We need tons of Beavers in Florida...

[@aditidharwadkar1749]

Love you beavers 🦫 😘

[@robertoXCX]

The post 10 squad already knows just how much beavers affect their environment

[@Crmsnraider]

Justt came to support ttttthe video as I knew all this information alreaady...

[@seyedmohamadmahdieskandari1723]

So interesting!!!

[@mhilmyfauzi4523]

i love beavers

[@JefriZainjz]

We must continue to exist with nature and let these elements thrive

[@DMT4Dinner]

Yes!

[@emmanuelbanda784]

wow so fascinating

[@_faultee_]

I love beavers.

[@chrisaguilera1564]

We need to hire more beavers.

[@Lia-dm3cm]

"man's yard is flooded by pest" maybe the man was the pest huh

[@thelinae]

I NEED THAT T-SHIRT!!!

[@shawnjohnson9638]

Great video! I read Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter by Ben Goldfarb earlier this year. If you want to learn more about these awesome critters you should to.

[@AmaraJordanMusic]

Yes, I love that book! The wolves get all the press!

[@hailmaryrecordings8255]

Love this

[@randommonkey4900]

I like beavers

[@joshuaabidde]

Amazing👏

[@64ccd]

Very interesting video! Thank you. Now, on another note - that sounds like Steve Reich's music at the end. Is that right?

[@museum1401]

I'm guessing it's a Steve Reich-a-like

[@elizabethhoeppner8881]

And restoring water storage in the water table.

[@jackmcmichael3560]

Awesome 👍

[@bl5752]

You are just learning all of this! Have you never talked to a Canadian before about beavers?

[@robertwoodroffe123]

Mystery’s at the museum, covered the first relocation!

[@iron4517]

Beavers save the world

[@ResanChea]

The only things I knew of beavers are from Post10.

[@oscarma15]

Very interesting

[@Chineeex]

Save the beavers!!

[@bighorn9119]

Beavers are master framers

[@hhwippedcream]

Context is everything....