José the beaver

Yeah, you know, Jose is this incredible symbol.

The classic beaver behavior that most people know about is they build dams.

You see them sometimes carrying rocks around and their little front paws waddling on their hind legs.

It's like the cutest thing ever.

That's a great question.

I mean, a beaver out on land is basically a fat, slow package of meat.

Think about wolves and mountain lions and bears and coyotes.

All of those big animals are going to want to eat a beaver.

So, if you're a beaver, you want to spend as little time on land as possible.

There were probably several hundred million beavers.

Manhattan Island was one of the most lush, incredible ecosystems on the eastern seaboard, and beavers were part of what made it that way.

Hats?

Top hats and cock hats.

Trapper hats with ear flaps.

Wellingtons and sugarloafs.

That's another name for witch hats.

Let's roll up our sleeves and start to clean.

And it was a beaver.

After an absence of more than 200 years, the beaver has come back to New York City.

Moose will come down there to eat all of the aquatic vegetation growing in the ponds.