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PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Beaverton residents are on alert after a cougar was recorded walking through the backyard of a Cedar Hills neighborhood home at 1:45 a.m. on March 18. The sighting occurred 0.2 miles from Cedar Hills Crossing, a popular shopping center in the area. On Thursday, a second sighting was reported a mile away from the first sighting, Deputy David Huey of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office told KOIN. “Today, WCSO received a notice of a sighting near the 13,000 block of SW Foothill Drive,” Huey said. “They are fairly close to each other on the map.”

According to startribune.com, about five months ago, the Minnesota House-Senate conference committee inserted a ban on eating beavers into the 2024 omnibus environment and natural resources bill. The ban only applies to nuisance beavers taken because they are doing damage. Beavers taken as part of the normal trapping season may legally be consumed by humans. Landowners who have beavers that are doing damage to their property do not need a permit to take beavers to stop the damage. From dnr.state.min.us:You can take some animals which are normally protected by Minnesota Statute without a license or permit if they are doing...

Beavers have saved the Czech government and its citizens $1.2 million by flooding what used to be an army training site, where a dam was planned, by building one of their own. Local officials had intended to build a dam to protect the Klabava River and its ecosystem, which includes the endangered crayfish, from acid water spilling over from surrounding ponds. This proposed project would also turn the protected area south of Prague into a wetland. It was first proposed in 2018 but the build permit was delayed due to negotiations over the land with the military, which used the...

Should Minnesotans be allowed to consume a beaver that damages their property? It’s the third-biggest question surrounding the animals in Minnesota, right behind the age-old question of “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” and “Who eats beavers?” A bill introduced by DFL State Senator Grant Hauschild aims to answer at least one of those questions by once again allowing Minnesotans to eat any nuisance beavers they killed.

Buc-ee's sues Super Fuels over logo A lawsuit, filed by Bucee's in US District Court, claims Super Fuels' logo is too similar to the Buc-ee's Beaver. The Super Fuels' logo is a dog in a cape.

Tails are useful in many ways, but — unlike these vervet monkeys pictured in Lake Mburo National Park in Uganda — humans' closest primate relatives lost the appendages about 25 million years ago. (Photo credit: imageBROKER/Shutterstock via CNN Newsource) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Humans have many wonderful qualities, but we lack something that’s a common feature among most animals with backbones: a tail. Exactly why that is has been something of a mystery. Tails are useful for balance, propulsion, communication and defense against biting insects. However, humans and our closest primate relatives — the great apes — said farewell to tails about 25...

Archaeologists from the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, the Leibniz Zentrum für Archäologie and Leiden University say they have found cut marks on the bones of two beaver species from the 400,000-year-old hominin open air site of Bilzingsleben in central Germany. Their results demonstrate a greater diversity of prey choice by Middle Pleistocene hominins than commonly acknowledged, and a much deeper history of broad-spectrum subsistence than commonly assumed, already visible in prey choices 400,000 years ago...They used magnifying glasses and digital microscopes to analyze 2,496 remains (1,963 teeth and 533 cranial and postcranial bones and bone fragments) of two beaver species:...

As the nation faces a future of increasing flooding, drought and wildfires, millions of 60-pound rodents stand by, ready to assist. Beavers can transform parched fields into verdant wetlands and widen rivers and streams in ways that not only slow surging floodwater, but store it for times of drought. Still not impressed? In 2020, three raging wildfires in Colorado — including one with walls of flame 70 feet high — effectively bowed to the flat-tailed dam-builders, according to Emily Fairfax, an assistant professor of physical geography at the University of Minnesota at Twin Cities. The fast-moving “megafires” left the water-saturated...

MONTMORENCY COUNTY, MI -- Charges have been submitted to prosecutors after a Montmorency County man allegedly used explosives to blow up a beaver dam along Crooked Creek. Michigan Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Dan Liestenfeltz investigated the incident after calls were received regarding reports of multiple gunshots and a loud explosion that shook nearby homes. One of the callers speculated the sounds came from a property with a new owner and that a beaver dam had been removed as the river had begun to significantly rise after the explosion. The caller reported their property had started flooding as a...

Local beavers are helping Ukraine defend itself from a potential new front in Russia's invasion, Reuters reported on Thursday. The animals are unwittingly helping Kyiv by building dams that keep the ground marshy and impassable, a military spokesman told the agency. This helps Ukraine by making it less likely that an attack could come via Belarus, which borders Ukraine not far north of the capital Kyiv...

Beaver fur was a symbol of wealth and an important trade item in 10th Century Denmark, according to a study published July 27, 2022 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE...Written sources indicate that fur was a key commodity during the Viking Age, between 800-1050 CE, but fur doesn't often survive well in the archaeological record, so little direct evidence is available. Previous reports have used the microscopic anatomy of ancient fur to identify species of origin, but this method is often inexact. All in all, not much is known about the kinds of furs the Vikings preferred.In this study, Brandt...

Tony Dow, the actor who personified the role of America’s big brother as the elder sibling Wally Cleaver on the TV classic sitcom Leave It to Beaver, died today. He was 77, and had been battling cancer. His death comes a day after his passing was mistakenly reported by his management team and his wife. Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo Gallery A statement on his Facebook page now reads: We have received confirmation from Christopher, Tony’s son, that Tony passed away earlier this morning, with his loving family at his side to see him through this journey. We...

Tony Dow, has passed away he was 77 TMZ

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — On the arrival of National Fossil Day, the giant beaver is the winning candidate to become Minnesota’s official state fossil. The beaver beat out nine candidates and will go on to face the legislative process to become the state fossil. More than 11,000 people voted, and 25% of them voted for the giant beaver.

Among the more humble recipients of our longer walks and affinity for nature during the pandemic: beavers. On recent mornings, shortly before and after sunrise, small groups of people have traveled to a bridge on the Northwestern University campus in Evanston. Some leave willow branches. For the beavers. “They’ve got this whole following,” said Tamar Selch, who stops by regularly with her husband, Zach. “They’re very cute. And how often do you really get to see beavers out there?” Illinois’ largest rodents are in city lagoons, rivers and streams. They’re on Instagram and TikTok. Sometimes a nuisance, and at other...

At just 19 feet long, it's used to deploy underwater fences. D'awww. ========================================================================== A little baby boat is making waves on Reddit. It may be the smallest ship in the U.S. Navy. The "Boomin Beaver" is a security tug that can tow small ships and deploy underwater fences. One of these boats fetched $100,000 in an auction, which sure seems like a lot for a boat this small. An adorable little tugboat as long as a Ford F-150 is making the rounds on social media, prompting many to call it the “smallest ship in the U.S. Navy.” At just 19...

Ken Osmond, best known for his role at the troublemaker Eddie Haskell on the television comedy “Leave It to Beaver,” died on Monday morning. He was 76. Sources tell Variety Osmond passed away at his Los Angeles home surrounded by family members. The cause of death is unknown.

PITTSBURGH -- Darrin Kelly, president of the powerful Allegheny-Fayette County Central Labor Council, says that not one of the Democratic candidates running for president has reached out to him to ask about or listen to what union families in western Pennsylvania are looking for in a nominee to challenge President Donald Trump in November. "Not one," he says abruptly. That omission is obvious in just about every proclamation about the energy sector coming from the mouths of most Democratic candidates, whether it is Sens. Bernie Sanders' and Elizabeth Warren's pledging to ban fracking, or former Vice President Joe Biden's recent...

IQALUIT, Nunavut (CP) - A mysterious skull discovered on the edge of the Arctic Circle has sparked interest in what creatures roamed Baffin Island in the distant past, and what life a warming climate may support in the future. Andrew Dialla, a resident of Pangnirtung, Nunavut, says he found the skull protruding from the frozen tundra during a walk near the shore with his daughter about a month ago. The horned skull is about the size of a man's fist. It resembles a baby caribou skull, except at that age, a caribou wouldn't have antlers, researchers and elders have pointed...

Most people enjoy a scoop of delicious ice cream. But did you know that the popular dessert used to contain anal secretions from beavers? If you think that’s stomach-turning, check out these other weird or even deadly ingredients found in common food products. Baguettes with a side of opium Just last March, shoppers in France were warned against purchasing bread that contained a dose of opium. Health officials were puzzled about the unexplained presence of the drugs in poppy seed baguettes and ready-made sandwiches made from poppy seed bread. Poppy seeds don’t usually contain opiates and government investigators posit that...