OTTAWA (AFP) – A Canadian ecologist has discovered the world's largest beaver dam in a remote area of northern Alberta, an animal-made structure so large it is visible from space, through NASA satellite from 1990s, is about 850 metres (2,800 feet) long on the southern edge of Wood Buffalo National Park. Average beaver dams in Canada are 10 to 100 metres long, and only rarely do they reach 500 metres. First discovered in October 2007, the gigantic dam is located in a virtually inaccessible part of the park. Construction of the dam likely started in the mid-1970s, said Thie, who made his discovery quite by accident while tracking melting permafrost in Canada's far north. "Several generations of beavers worked on it and it's still growing," he told AFP in Ottawa. Significant vegetation growing on the dam itself, suggesting it's very old, he said. "A new dam would have a lot of fresh sticks," Keizer explained. "This one has grasses growing on it and it's very green." Part of the dam may have been created by naturally felled trees, and the beavers "opportunistically filled in the gaps." Thie said he recently identified two smaller dams sprouting at either side of the main dam. In 10 years, all three structures could merge into a mega-dam measuring just short of a kilometer in length, he said. The region is flat, so the beavers would have had to build a massive structure to stem wetland water flows,"It's a unique phenomenon," he said. North American beavers build dams to create deep, still pools of water to protect against predators, and to float food and building materials. A 652-meter structure in Three Forks in the US state of Montana previously held the record for world's largest beaver dam. Thie said he also found evidence that beavers were repopulating old habitats after being hunted extensively for pelts in past centuries.:hiya "They're invading their old territories in a remarkable way in Canada," he said. "They're re-engineering the landscape," he said.:thumbsup sriniketan
Hi Srini, The Beaver report made an interesting read.Amazing isn't it what these furry creatures have achieved ? Just a passing thought.....Are these preparations being made by the busy beaver engineers to safe gaurd against the cassandrian predictions made for 2012 ??:hide::biglaugh:biglaugh.Maybe they have the proverbial sixth sense ! Hope we humans won't be caught napping when and if it does come to pass !:drowning
Paulina, Is it amazing..they are natural engineers just as weaver birds isn't it! Nice thoughts on the cassandrian predictions..haha.. sriniketan PS: How are you doing? Nice to see you here.
