Beaver bites tree and the tree bites back…
It’s a story old as the hills, the beaver who crushed himself by chewing down the wrong tree. Nature is brutal, and it’s not just because one animal is hunting another.
Even something as natural as a beaver chewing a tree can be dangerous.
Beavers are known for their impressive ability to build dams and lodges. The largest rodents in North America, they can grow up to three feet in length and weigh as much as 70 pounds.
They are herbivores and they rely on bark, twigs, and leaves for their diet. They are particularly fond of the bark of deciduous trees like aspen, cottonwood and willow and they have a set of teeth and jaws that allow them to chew through even the toughest wood.
Beavers have two large incisors in the front of their mouths that never stop growing. These bright orange incisors are incredibly strong and are capable of cutting through wood like a hot knife through butter. In fact, beavers’ teeth are so strong that they can even cut through steel wire.
To keep their teeth sharp and healthy, beavers must constantly chew on wood. This chewing not only helps them keep their teeth in good shape but also helps them build dams and lodges.
When beavers decide to take down a tree, they start by gnawing a small notch in the trunk with their teeth. They then continue to chew around the circumference of the tree, gradually weakening it until it falls over. This process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on the size of the tree and the number of beavers working on it.
They’re master loggers, but this beaver was having a chew when it all went wrong.
The video shows an Illinois man walking up to a fallen over tree and as he walks around it a beaver comes into view with it squished in the very notch that it made itself. Tough scene for Mr. Beaver, who took the full weight of that tree right to the noggin, crushing it like a watermelon.
But hey, he died doing what he loved… that’s all any of us can really ask for.
