Alan Gofinski

Yep, that's me.

And here to help me is Ben Goldfarb, who's a writer.

And beaver believer.

Don't stop be believing.

So Jose, he waddles out into the world with little webbed feet and whiskers and very large buck teeth that are bright orange because apparently... Beavers teeth actually contain iron.

Whoa, metal teeth?

Yeah, like a chisel.

The iron makes their teeth excellent for chopping down trees.

Because beavers have one single obsessive haru.

It's not drawing or knitting or doing puzzles.

A dam is basically a wall in the water that beavers build by dragging the trees that they chomp down across a flowing stream, blocking the water, and sometimes adding mud or other stuff to keep that wall sealed up tight.

A beaver dam makes water accumulate behind the barricade, turning a trickling stream into a new pond in the middle of the forest.

Ana, can I just interrupt to ask why?

Like, I've always wondered this about beavers.

Like, a beaver like Jose, why is it driven to go through all this work to chop down trees and make a wall that creates pools?

It just feels so random.

According to Ben, it all stems from the fact that beavers are super awkward on land.

With their webbed feet and huge tail that drags on the ground, beavers are not good at running, making them easy pickings for land predators.

So...

By making dams, they create deep pools of water, which allows them to transform from wobbly wolf snacks into elegant professional swimmers who can spin and twirl and can hold their breath for up to 15 minutes.