• stoy@lemmy.zip
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    2 days ago

    That has actually been answered.

    Beavers react to the sound of running water.

    Researchers put a speaker playing the sound of running water in an area with beavers and came back to find the speaker buried in a beaver dam structure.

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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      2 days ago

      I think there is more of a compulsion that that. I’ve seen videos from a woman who has a pet beaver she raised from a baby, and it demonstrates damming behavior without water. He will grab anything he can get his mouth on, and drageit to the opening of a hallway, and start piling random stuff across the doorway - stuffed animals, blankets, pillows, even a small decorative artificial tree.

      I don’t know what prompts the little guy to do it, but there is no actual water involved. I don’t think she was playing water sounds, either. It seems to be spontaneous.

      • groet@feddit.org
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        2 days ago

        I seem to remember a similar story of a zoo where the beavers built a damm in a dry concrete room. They later found out the area was above a waterpipe and the beavers were just way more sensitive to the sound/vibrations.

        Couldn’t find it with 1min of DDG so might be wrong

        • village604@adultswim.fan
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          2 days ago

          DDGs results have been garbage since MS jacked up the price of Bing API calls. I hate that I usually have to use Google to get the results I want.

          One day I’ll get around to setting up a searxng server.

        • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today
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          1 day ago

          Yeah, I’m wondering now. When I saw him doing his dam behavior, I just figured it was instinctual, maybe seasonal/hormonal or something. Now I’m wondering if he can’t hear or sense the water running through the pipes, and it gets him hyped up to build a dam. Very interesting and cool.

      • Rooster326@programming.dev
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        2 days ago

        Does it chew everything in her home? Including the home itself?

        My dog doesn’t have teeth made for wood and it already chews everything. I can’t imagine having a beaver in a stick built home.

        • village604@adultswim.fan
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          2 days ago

          I’m sure she gives it things to chew on to prevent property damage, just like most people do with dogs who like to chew.

          But beavers actually have to chew because their teeth continuously grow, so eventually without it they can’t eat and die.

    • tuxiqae@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 days ago

      Okay, so they base it on hearing instead of sight, but what’s their reasoning for building those dams?

      • Pringles@sopuli.xyz
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        2 days ago

        They build their homes in the pond out of reach of predators like wolves or bears. They also dig escape routes from their den under the water. They’re herbivores so it’s not for fish, btw.