Orange teeth! Vanilla butts! Architecture with twigs! Olde-timey joke books? Field naturalist, conservationist, wildlife tracker and “beaver believer” Rob Rich works with the National Wildlife Federation’s coordination of the Montana Beaver Working Group and answers all of our Castorological questions about: baby beavers, tooth tools, lodges, dams, the sound of water, the slap of a tail, who eats beaver and why, beavers in peril, in folklore, in smut books, in your neighborhood and in your dreams forever. Also: yes we discuss slang. Follow Rob Rich on LinkedInA donation went to Tracker Certification North AmericaMore episode sources and linksSmologies (short, classroom-safe) episodesOther episodes you may enjoy: Hydrochoerology (CAPYBARAS), Bisonology (BUFFALO), Road Ecology (ROAD KILL), Sciuridology (SQUIRRELS), Oreamnology (MOUNTAIN GOATS ARE NOT GOATS), Lutrinology (OTTERS), Procyonology (RACCOONS), Opossumology (O/POSSUMS), Mammalogy (MAMMALS), Scatology (POOP), Gynecology (NETHER HEALTH), Sexology (SEX), Dasyurology (TASMANIAN DEVILS)Sponsors of OlogiesTranscripts and bleeped episodesBecome a patron of Ologies for as little as a buck a monthOlogiesMerch.com has hats, shirts, hoodies, totes!Follow Ologies on Instagram and BlueskyFollow Alie Ward on Instagram and TikTokEditing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions and Jake ChaffeeManaging Director: Susan HaleScheduling Producer: Noel DilworthTranscripts by Aveline Malek Website by Kelly R. DwyerTheme song by Nick Thorburn
Full Episode
We have this issue, I think, as a people, just of beaver amnesia, not being able to see what the beavers created before us. And I would bet, you know, almost the entirety of us that are drinking water and flushing toilets and taking showers and all the things, our water is coming from somewhere that at some point in its history was shaped by a beaver.
Oh, hey, it's the lady at the donut store who knows that you like bear claws. Allie Ward, this is ologies. This is beavers. Finally, the beavers are here and ushering them in is an absolutely delightful beaver man who is a field naturalist and a conservationist who does a ton of biological surveys and teaches wildlife tracking and beaver ecology. and he writes about the beaver as well.
He's a coordinator for the National Wildlife Federation's Montana Beaver Working Group, and he knows so much about beavers. So he spoke to me one morning from his chilly house in the Swan Valley outside of Missoula, Montana. He was wearing a coat and a hat, and a warm smile. And we just we had the loveliest time chatting beavers as I knew that we would. So we're going to get to it in a moment.
But first, thank you to all the patrons at patreon.com slash ologies who submitted questions for this. You too can join for as little as a dollar a month to support the show. Thanks for everyone in ologies merch at ologiesmerch.com. And to everyone who reviews the show, which helps us so much, it costs you $0.
I read them all, such as this week's from Maximilie, who wrote, I have been a dedicated listener since the inception of this podcast in 2017. Max, seven and a half years. You're a real one. I like you. Thank you for that. Thank you to everyone who leaves reviews. And thank you also to sponsors of the show who make it possible to donate to a cause selected by the guest each week. So one sec.
Okay, so Castorology, it's a study indeed. It comes from the root for Castor, which may come from the Greek for he who excels. And there's this big debate about whether this divine Greek mythological twin named Castor, who was worshiped as a healer, got his name from smelly beaver juice used as a medicine for millennia, or if it was the other way around. But we're here, it's now.
Let's get to what patron Stratford Abbott calls swimming furry chainsaws.
And let's talk about baby beavers, tooth tools, lodges, dams, the sound of water, the slap of a tail, who eats beaver and why, the best beaver real estate, the plight of the beaver, hats, whiskey, beavers and folklore, in joke books, in your neighborhood and in your dreams forever with naturalist, wildlife ecologist, tracker, and castorologist, Rob Rich.
Rob Rich, he, him is great.
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