Today’s award for smile-inducing descriptive phrasing goes to Emily Fairfax, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Resource Management at California State University and Channel Islands.
In an article in the Sacramento Bee, Professor Fairfax said, “The beaver on land is like a chicken nugget walking through the landscape for predators…They’re fat and they’re slow and anything would be glad to have them for a meal.”
However, unlike chicken nuggets, it turns out that beavers are quite adept at protecting themselves from predators.
In further contrast to chicken nuggets, living beavers are quite helpful engineers of natural landscapes and use their prowess to construct pretty awesome dams, ponds, and canals that form wetlands. This activity not only protects them from becoming happy meals, it has all sorts of benefits for plants and animals, including animals of the human variety.
If you’re drawn in by the “beaver as chicken nugget” description, read the rest of the article to learn more about how beavers can help to restore floodplains, wetlands, and other natural areas.
That said, note, don’t introduce beavers next to a pistachio orchard. That’d be nuts!
I read about beavers today because of Jason Kottke’s “Noticing” newsletter. Thanks for sharing your noticings with us.
Adam Fearnall 