architecture+engineering: Best Civil Engineers on Earth: Beavers!

Beavers are semiaquatic mammals, they build dams and lodges using tree lodges. Dams impound water and lodges serve as shelters. Their infrastructure creates wetlands used by many other species, and because of their effect on other organisms in the ecosystem, they are considered keystone species. They build dams across streams, in order to create a safe environment from predators. This is called a beaver lodge. These dammed streams provided food for water beetles and nymphs, and the ponds created have various types of fish. To conclude, these dams provide tremendous environmental benefits such as groundwater recharge, water quality, and other species benefit from these habitats as well.

An example for a beaver dam

A beaver dam is a dam made out of logs and mud. A dam is something that blocks or slows down the flow of water in a river or a stream. A good portion of these dams is very stable, they might be renovated by other beavers in order to be used since young male beavers have to create a new pond or find an empty one to re-use. 'Some beaver dams in California date back more than 1,000 years.'

Some controversies about beavers; so these dams are apparently causing flooding and this wipes out land that farmers need. I think this is preventable damage since there maps for where beavers live and where they might build dams, I am no expert but I feel like it can easily be prevented if people were more mindful of these creatures' territory. And I personally find it very odd to blame an animal's instinct for "damaging nature" when beavers ALMOST went instinct before some regulations came out about hunting beavers, In less than 200 years, the North American beaver went from 90 million to between 10-15 million. In Europe and Asia, just 1,200 beavers remained by 1900.

Anyways, thanks for reading, here are some cute beaver pictures: