Beavers set for return to Wales for Ceredigion project

BBC ^ | March 21, 2011 | Unknown

[decimon]

Beavers are to be re-introduced to the Welsh countryside for the first time in at least 900 years.

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The oil found in the glands at the base of its tail contains salicylic acid (aspirin) which was used as medicine for headaches and fever in the middle ages.

Beavers lived in Wales until the 12th Century and the rest of Britain until the 16th Century but were hunted to extinction.

Gerald of Wales reported in 1188 that by then the river Teifi was its only habitat in Wales.

Scotland managed to hang onto its beavers - the last in the UK - until the 1600s and by the beginning of the 20th Century only a few colonies remained across Europe.

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[Dogbert41]

When I was a boy they had beaver up some of our mountain creeks. They helped create meadows and the fishing was great. Beaver feaver caused the authorities to trap them all so they wouldn’t have to worry about the water supply.

Now, not many fish, everything is overgrown, trails all washed away, just not that fun to hike, let alone camp up those creeks anymore. I miss them.

[thecodont]

Oddly, I had a beaver make a dam on my property last summer. It was the first time I’d seen one up close. I can see why their fur was so coveted, it looked like deep brown silk.

For your viewing pleasure:

"Grey Owl's Strange Guests"

(Native American adopts baby beaver)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-42HhjmHO6w

[arrogantsob]

I like beavers.

[Nepeta]

You know, beavers glands are pretty odoriferous.

If they are analogous to feline glands in the same location, they must be fragrant.

[ottbmare]

They’ll be sorry...

[I still care]

I seem to remember they were on a list of ten smelliest animals (Animal planet show) along with foxes, skunks, wolverines, etc.

It’s funny though, there are a lot of lists, and they are all different. Frankly, it seems like most every animal can stink at one time or another. And people that work with them each think theirs is the worst - one of the most vivid descriptions I’ve read was a man who worked the walrus room at a zoo.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SatinDoll]

“...one of the most vivid descriptions I’ve read was a man who worked the walrus room at a zoo.”

The man was odoriferous? Or the walrus were odoriferous?

I suspect you mean the walrus, but the way you’ve written the sentence....

[colorado tanker]

Coming soon to a theater near you, even in Wales.

[colorado tanker]

Drats, the dreaded red-x. I tried to post a poster for a supposed upcoming movie, The Beaver. From the plot summary, it sounds more like The Turkey.

[triumphant values]

Aspirin (salicylic acid) comes from willow bark. The willow’s scientific genus is ‘salix’. The “castoreum” oil from a beaver’s anal glands therefore does CONTAIN some salicylic acid because their diet is heavy in willow bark. But, to the best of my knowledge, nobody ever used the oily secretions from a beaver’s anal glands to cure a headache.

I read in an old (and I mean like early 20th century) medical journal how beaver gland oil was used in some late 18th and 19th century patent medications as a topical pain killer.

[PENANCE]

Thank you. My skull is basically wall-to-wall trivia, with just a few bits of applicable knowledge here & there; so I love little tidbits of information like that. I have a couple of degrees but I remember almost nothing that I allegedly “learned” in getting them. But the piece of information you just gave me will probably stay with me until I die.

Makes me wonder what the he11 college was for.

[SunkenCiv]

It’ll be nice to see Jerry Mathers working again.

[JoeProBono]

[alarm rider]

“June, I’m Home”.
“Ward, I’m worried about the Beav”.