Tooth & Claw: True Stories of Animal Attacks - Bonus Episode Unlocked - Beavers

Episode Date: April 18, 2022

We're releasing two of our bonus episodes this week while we're busy at work on some upcoming exciting stuff. Jeff takes the lead on this one about beavers, and it turns out to be a lot more informati...ve and interesting than we dared to hope.  ~~ To advertise on the show, contact us! ~~ Tooth & Claw is brought to you by QCODE. Support the show and get access to an extensive library of exclusive episodes like this by supporting the show on Patreon or joining the Grizzly Club on Apple Podcasts. For the latest updates on the show and all things wildlife, follow us at toothandclawpod.com and social:  Instagram: @ToothandClawPodcast Twitter: @ToothandClawPod Wes: @GrizKid Jeff: @jefe_larson Mike: @mikey3ds                          Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:34 Oh, and real quick, just a quick correction corner for the first time ever we're having a correction corner before the mistake was even made. Or I guess the mistake was made, but I'm telling you before you will hear us make the mistake. So Jeff references a video where somebody dies to a beaver attack. And while that is true, there has been a recorded death from a beaver attack. The video that he shows us where he told us that the person died because of the beaver is not, actually the one where the death occurs. So just to clear up that little misconception.
Starting point is 00:01:05 But yeah, so that's about it. Let's get to the episode. Thanks again. Okay, tooth and claw, back at you. This is Jeff, Wes, and Mike. We're here. Wes, you said you started Mortal Kombat? I did.
Starting point is 00:01:18 I started the new Mortal Kombat. I liked it so far. You like the old one? I like the old one a lot. Yeah. The old one, both the movie and the music are like, I rewatched the trailer, the old one. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:01:32 And like, it's so good. The music, just like the, mortal combat. It's like the best song for a movie in a long time. So apparently that song, it charted worldwide. Really? Because people just loved it so much. It was actually a hit song. Who are the artists behind it?
Starting point is 00:01:50 I'm not sure. I can't remember. Lincoln Park. It's not Lincoln Park. You know what? This brings back a weird memory. And probably neither of you remember. because I bet you're too young.
Starting point is 00:02:01 After the Mortal Kombat movie came out, there was a Mortal Kombat TV series, like a live action one, and it was really bad. But it had just really hot girls and like skimpy uniforms and like a lot of sex scenes. And I remember I would like watch it when I could like sneak upstairs and watch it or like watch it downstairs. And then I would have to like change it if I heard someone coming. That's fun. It was like a really horny show. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:28 Well, Wes, how do you think a beaver would do in the Mortal Kombat video game? I don't think a beaver would do that well. Would you choose them as a character? Maybe it's like a joke I would, but I don't think they'd do that well. Okay. Well, today we're talking about how a beaver would do against people. Okay, just normal people. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:51 But first I'm going to start it off kind of giving beaver facts. Okay. So how much would you guess a beaver weighs? I guess average weight would be like 20 pounds. The smallest ones are about 25 pounds. Okay. Oh wow. It ranges from 25 to 65 pounds.
Starting point is 00:03:10 Wow, that's a big beaver. And the biggest I saw that got to 80 pounds. Yeah. Now, how much do you think they weighed in the ice age? Uh, probably three times that amount. They weighed about 200 pounds. And they could get to be eight feet. Wow.
Starting point is 00:03:26 Oh, my gosh. Yeah, so beavers used to be freaking huge. Yeah. I want to see a beaver that big, honestly. Yeah, hopefully someday you will. And then... Sorry, I'm going to stop making beaver jokes. It's almost impossible.
Starting point is 00:03:41 Everything's a double-on-ton-a-day. So, they can swim six miles per hour. How much... How fast do you think the fastest human can swim? I bet, like... Faster or slower? It's faster. Or faster?
Starting point is 00:03:57 I'm going to say faster. Slower. Slower. Human can swim five miles per hour. Okay. It's the fastest ever, yep. They're what, the second biggest rodent in the world? Beavers?
Starting point is 00:04:07 Yeah. Ooh, I don't know. They are. I think Capibaras are the only bigger rodent than beavers. I'm always shocked at how big capybarros are. When I see a picture, they're like fully large dog-sized sometimes. Yeah, they're the biggest. Weird.
Starting point is 00:04:20 Beavors are second, biggest rodent. So they can hold their breath for 15 minutes underwater. Okay. How long do you think the longest of person's ever held their breath? I'm going to say six minutes. Well, David Blaine was under for like, what, three years that one time? 24 minutes by a woman in Spain at a pool. But was she, like, rescued and then, like, revived?
Starting point is 00:04:42 No, she was, like, trying to hold her breath. That's insane. Yeah. So we got beavers beat there. That's unreal. That's what the Internet says. Okay. Oh, the Internet says it.
Starting point is 00:04:54 It's never been wrong. Beavers have orange teeth. Do you know why? It's the enamel that they have on their incisors. No, they don't have any... Iron. ...toothbrushes. No, it's because of iron.
Starting point is 00:05:07 Yeah. And so when they swim, it's kind of cute. So they have, like, more webbing on their back feet, you know? So they tuck their arms in, like, into their body, and then they just paddle with their back feet. Oh, cool. Kind of like an alligator just uses its tail and its back feet. Yeah. And speaking of a tail.
Starting point is 00:05:25 Beaver have pretty unique tails. So what do you guys think like the uses of its tail are? Well, I know they'll slap the water as like an aggression thing or to scare off other animals. It's more of a warning to like their family. Like that there's a threat. Is that the main thing? Do they use them to swim? It's one of them. Yeah, help swim. Use it as a rudder as they're swimming. That's probably the main. For all you out there, I don't know that much about beavers. They use it as like support. when they're on the, like, when they're standing up on the ground and like when they're chewing on a tree, they like use it for balance. Okay. And then they also use it as a fat storage. So they store a lot of fat in their tail. I was just going to ask if the weight distribution was a lot of that part of the tail. Yeah, how much they got a lot of weight in their tail. Yeah, cool.
Starting point is 00:06:17 So their tails have countercurrent blood vessels. Okay. Do you know what that means? It means that the blood's running off. opposite directions. And why would that matter? Just to improve circulation. It helps them control their temperatures when it's like frozen lakes and stuff like that.
Starting point is 00:06:35 I know another thing they have for temperature regulation is they have really densely packed hair. Like they have some of the densest hair in the animal kingdom. Yeah. And that's why trappers valued their skin so much. So they can make hats and stuff out of them. But that really dense hair keeps them warm in the water and also helps them to float. Okay. So I'm going to take a break.
Starting point is 00:06:55 and go back to facts, but I'm going to get to stories now. Yeah, let's do it. So how threatening do you think beavers are to people? I know they attack people, and I know that they're kind of scary, but I wouldn't know much past that. Yeah, so... Not deadly is what I would consider them. Oh, well, in 2013, a beaver killed a man in Belarus.
Starting point is 00:07:18 I retract my statement. And actually, I showed you guys the video. Oh, that video? ended up in someone dying? Yeah. The guy with the camera? Yeah. No way.
Starting point is 00:07:30 So do you guys want to explain what happens in that video? Yeah. So Jeff showed us a video that now feels very dark. But initially, I just, it's like a beaver walking along a road or a trail. And I guess it's in Belarus, which is a country in Europe. There's two species of beaver. There's North American beaver and Eurasian beaver. And this beaver's walking.
Starting point is 00:07:52 And then it like kind of notices the guy filming it. and it kind of takes a couple steps towards him. And then when the guy doesn't run off it, like, full on charges him. Like fast. Yeah, and it's a lot faster than you'd expect. And he runs into the forest, but you can tell the way he's, like, moving the camera, the beaver's right there with him.
Starting point is 00:08:10 The thing, he's, like, on the end of a dirt road. Uh-huh. So he just didn't have any space to back up any trips, and then, like, the phone just kind of falls. Yeah. But, yeah, the beaver bit him on the leg and severed an artery. and the doctor said that he couldn't believe that a beaver had like bit in that deep into a leg yeah and the person ended up bleeding out before he could be saved oh wow yeah you think they
Starting point is 00:08:38 can chew through wood yeah yeah yeah the teeth are huge isn't that big of a deal yeah wow that's insane that's insane that's insane that that video ended up in someone dying I know right and like they wanted to keep a lot of the facts out of the public so that's like honestly pretty much all I have, but there is the video of it happening. It's super sad. Which like you just don't. It was a 60 year old fisherman. Yeah. And he just saw a beaver and
Starting point is 00:09:04 like decided to like take a video. Yeah, like anybody would. Like I, yeah, there's no way I want to have like done something similar there. Right. And I would even think, okay, if this thing does decide to come at me, the worst case is I get like a pretty bad bite. Yeah. I'm not going to think.
Starting point is 00:09:20 It's going to kill. Yeah. Wow. It was a fast beaver though. It was shocking really fast. So now to kind of light in the mood, there's another beaver attack story of a daddy-daughter kayaking trip in Pennsylvania. And I'm actually going to have Mike put the audio onto this episode. But I'm going to show you guys the video right now and then have you react like the same way people are going to react after they hear the audio.
Starting point is 00:09:48 Sure. Get away because this is a beaver. Fuck away. Yeah, that's why I like. halfway through I had to get my phone out. I'm like, nobody's going to believe this, you know, beaver biting my kayak. Dan Worley and his seven-year-old daughter, Layla, were kayaking on the Conoago Creek with their dog, Ellie Mae, when things took a rather rare and terrifying turn, a relentless beaver scratching and biting Worley's brand new kayak. Then I looked and it was a beaver. It was
Starting point is 00:10:18 scratching at it, biting my kayak. I thought that's pretty cool. You know, beaver came up to us, and it wouldn't stop, so I used my paddle, tried to hit it to get it away, and it just wouldn't stop, wouldn't stop. Realizing the beaver wasn't giving up, Worley used what he had on hand. I had him with this a lot. Then once I knew he wasn't stopping, I pulled it in half, and I was holding it like this and beating him with the metal part. I figured that would do more. It finally led up and went straight for little Layla. Beaver came up to the kayak and tried to get in the kayak. I jumped out of my kayak and ran to her. I got to her kayak the same time the beaver did. It climbed up on the back of her kayak started to and I had to punch it to
Starting point is 00:10:58 get it off because I don't have anything with me. How did you feel? Scared. Why is that? That the beaver was going to chew my kayak. Eventually the fight went to shore where Worley killed the beaver. The Pennsylvania Game Commission confirming it had rabies and since Worley's had to get a number of shots. I was just worried about her getting bit. That would have been horrible. I couldn't imagine. Layla's now understandably scared to get in a kayak, but says she may try one day soon. As for dad, he says he'll definitely be keeping an eye out the next time he's on the water. Well, it found us. We didn't find it. It found us. All right. So you guys just watch the video.
Starting point is 00:11:38 Pretty cute little seven-year-old girl. Yeah. And then what were you guys' thoughts? I feel like that dad was born to like for that moment. Yeah. Like he's like, my time has finally come. Yeah. He loves it that. happened. Yeah, I, you know what, like, rabid animals, it's crazy how different they act than
Starting point is 00:11:58 they typically do. It's such a crazy disease. And then it also sucks that if you even like deal with one, you have to get this whole series of shots and it costs like over $10,000 to get all those shots. Yeah. So it's like, that's the thing that really stuck out for me is just like, man, dealing with a rabbit animal is such a scary thing. Yeah. It seems like beavers get a lot of rabies. Yeah, they're a rodent. So rodents are really common carriers. Mike, any favorite parts of that story? Well, him punching the beaver is just classic. I love that he just punched it off of the kayak.
Starting point is 00:12:33 Yeah, he's a good dad. I do like that you said beavers seem to get a lot of rabies, which made me think that it's possible to get one rabie. Yeah. I don't know. Probably not. I mean with that. That's not how I meant it.
Starting point is 00:12:46 Yeah, that's a good video, though. So there's a couple, a younger couple in Queenenborg. Sorry, I didn't. This story wasn't that good, so I didn't, like, put a lot of detail into it. I don't even know where that is, but pretty much it bit a girl on the rib, and her boyfriend went to, like, get it off, and it, like, bit his hand and, like, bit him, and they both had to get stitches. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:13:14 And it had rabies. That's so weird, because I never. think of beavers as being aggressive in any way at all. See, I grew up always thinking they were. Really? My dad had told me he'd been chased by one before while swimming. Interesting. In like a pond. Yeah. And he said it was really scary. And then every time I saw him ever since then, I was just like, oh, beavers are scary. You don't want to be in the water at the beaver. Interesting. I never heard that story from dad. So I felt the same as Mike. Yeah, I always thought they were like an animal that you had to give some good distance to. There was an 83-year-old one.
Starting point is 00:13:48 named Peterson who is swimming at her home. She lives at like a lake in Virginia. Yeah. She's like a super successful real estate agent. Uh-huh. If you saw a beaver in the middle of a lake, what would make you think it has rabies just seeing it out in a lake? Uh, I would have to see its mouth like frothing or something.
Starting point is 00:14:09 It'd have to be acting pretty crazy. Yeah. Like splashing around. Like splashing like crazy. Going wild and like... Well, apparently this guy saw the beaver. in the lake, like, far away and was like, there's something wrong with this beaver. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:23 Like, it's just, like, splashing and going crazy. Yeah. And then it started swimming after this lady, and it bit her leg as she was, like, getting out of the leg. Uh-huh. And, like, it wouldn't let go. And he saw it follow her, and then, like, heard her start, like, screaming and drove his boat over.
Starting point is 00:14:42 And it said that he gave it a hard beating, and it let go. and then it attached to her again and started biting her again So he beat it like super hard Yeah Picked it up and threw it off and like hit it with a paddle and broke the paddle Yeah And the beaver was just floating So he's like oh okay it's dead
Starting point is 00:15:01 And then it came from the dead And like came after him again And the paramedics were there at that time So a paramedic actually like fought it off Really? Yeah Whoa wow But the lady was in good spirits It said she was, like, flirting with the paramedics and stuff, and it's, like, kind of a nice story in the end.
Starting point is 00:15:21 Yeah. Any rabbit animal, they just don't go down easy, and they just act totally different. Okay, and then I have one more audio that I want to put on the podcast. I'm going to show you guys one more. All right, let's do it. Mike Kavanaugh's arms and back are now bandage after a beaver leaped out of the water, just as Kavanaugh was getting in for a kayak lesson. It's just a freak thing.
Starting point is 00:15:44 This beer was just... upset about something and went after him. Nate Reynolds is a kayak instructor who saw part of the attack happen. I heard him yell my name, so I come running out. As soon as I come out the door, I see the boat flip over. So the beaver had actually jumped up, grabbed his arm, and pulled him right out of his kayak. The beaver was still attached to Mike's arm after it flipped him out of the kayak. That's when Nate came down with the paddle.
Starting point is 00:16:13 He hit the beaver with so much force, it knocked the blade. off the shaft. Nate's a pretty strong individual and he must have hit it directly broke a paddle over it. So we were pretty sure it was injured but kind of out of abundance of caution. We canceled everything. Bay Creek paddling owner Ken Altfather says the beaver's carcass was spotted a few days later and was taken by animal control. In his 22 years as owner, he's never seen a beaver attack and he hopes this one will be his last.
Starting point is 00:16:39 I think the rarity of it is the main thing. This beaver apparently was upset for some reason. that we do not know. So just watch the second video. Wes, what stuck out about the kayak instructor's appearance to you? He was just a very interesting looking good. What type of hat was he wearing?
Starting point is 00:16:58 The bucket hat. It was a bucket hat. A zebra. Yeah, zebra on it. That's right. And like a American flag tank top or something. Yeah. And just like a huge black beard.
Starting point is 00:17:09 Yeah. He looked like he could kill a beaver with a paddle, though. Yeah, it's funny. As we watch these videos, I think about, like how if I were attacked by a beaver, they would feel weird to tell people like, oh, this beaver attack was really scary, but it would be really scary.
Starting point is 00:17:25 Yeah, they have huge teeth. They have huge teeth. They're pretty big, and it seems like when they attack people, they're pretty relentless, you know? It's funny to me that it, like, grabbed his arm and tipped his kayak over, like pulling him underwater.
Starting point is 00:17:40 It's like an alligator. I mean, even the newscaster's voiceover work made the attack. You'd think of it. a beaver attack and it's kind of something to laugh at, but they treat it as such a dire and dramatic event. And I'm not denying that it is because it sounds like it. They all kind of have like a little smirk on their face too. Right. Yeah. That one's funny too because they like pull up a file photo that looks like the beaver's like standing on the land like looking like it's about to attack. Yeah. But it looks like it's an old like crime photo. Yeah.
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Starting point is 00:18:59 Okay, so then this one's not funny, so don't laugh. Okay. Someone dies in this one. Oh, come on, man. Yeah. So in Cloverland Township in Wisconsin, a 76-year-old woman was canoeing with her daughter, and there's like a tree at that lake. that everyone really liked and it says that they were out kayaking and they're looking at the tree and the tree had been chewed on by a beaver and it started to fall and the lady said look at that and then the tree fell and hit her and her daughter was in the kayak unharmed but it just like perfectly fell on her so the beaver chewed the tree the tree fell and hit her but the beaver wasn't there like chewing
Starting point is 00:19:49 it as they didn't. But it was like a beaver chewed tree. Yeah. Push it over in that dimension. Yeah, they're dangerous. They didn't know. At least they didn't report that there's a beaver chewing. Right.
Starting point is 00:19:59 I know that that happens when windstorms kick up and stuff, beaver trees are some of the first to fall just because they chew all around it. And there's just like a little bit left. So you got to be careful around them. Just super unlucky that it fell straight on her. Yeah. Yeah, I guess we can count that as a beaver. Yeah. Beaver related death is what I would say.
Starting point is 00:20:19 It sounds like... I wonder if it did it on purpose. I doubt it. I really doubt it. It's like, you know how, what is it, Ravens can solve puzzles and use tools and stuff? Maybe beavers can set traps. Not too far behind, it sounds like.
Starting point is 00:20:32 Okay, so that is it for my beaver stories. Deadly beavers. Mm-hmm. So we're going to do a few more facts. Did you guys know that beavers are monogamous? That they're what? Monogamous. I didn't.
Starting point is 00:20:46 I didn't know that. Yeah. So they mate with one mate, unless they die, then they can move on. Yeah. And I like that about it. They keep their kids with them for a while. How long? It says like a few years.
Starting point is 00:21:02 Okay. And they'll have like beaver dams with up to like 10 family members. Wow. That like are all living there. I love hearing about animals that, you know, stick together. Yeah, me too. Have like a family unit and stuff. Wasn't there like some beavers in the Narnia movie that were really?
Starting point is 00:21:18 nice. Oh, that's right. Yeah, the first. Honestly, beavers, like, no one ever chooses them, like, what animal would you most want to be? They kind of got cool setups. I read about a beaver dam that was, like, 80 meters deep. Uh-huh. Like, they built some huge dams,
Starting point is 00:21:34 especially when they have big families. Do you guys know anything about the inside of beaver dams? I don't know. Not much. I know there's, like, an underwater entrance that they swim up. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But that's it. And a lot of times they do that to, like, keep ice. from getting in there.
Starting point is 00:21:49 They have two rooms. The first one, they go into, and it's like a room where they dry off. Okay. And then they go deeper in where it's like into the bank more. Yeah. That's awesome. Like a living room. Interesting.
Starting point is 00:22:03 Yeah. The babies are so cool. They have two rooms. And it said that they can even be hospitable to like muskrats sometimes and like let muskrats hang out in their home. No way. But the muskrat has to dry off first. Yeah, they got to dry up.
Starting point is 00:22:18 Follow the house rules. Yeah. You know. That's fair. Wipe your feet. Yep. They're cupuscular and nocturnal. Krupuscular.
Starting point is 00:22:26 Krupuscular. Krupuscular. You said it differ in both times. Kripuscular. They're highly intelligent for rodents. They can fell trees six inches wide in 50 minutes. Cool. So that's pretty quick.
Starting point is 00:22:41 Yeah. And then they can do like up to like 10 inches. I mean, I think they can do. even bigger than that, but like a 10-inch wide circumference tree takes them a few hours. And then they use a 45-degree angle when they're like chewing a tree. So they put their head sideways, right? Yeah. And then they go...
Starting point is 00:23:01 Like when you're eating a taco? Yep. And then they go like right and left, right and left, right and left to like keep it balanced. And that's how you like see how it gets narrow in the middle. Yeah. Cool. So for their dams, they carry mud and rocks. under their chin with their little four limbs?
Starting point is 00:23:21 I thought that was kind of cute. Yeah, that is cute. Wes, would you guess that beavers are better or worse for the environment? Like, they're impact. I would say they're better. I know they're really important for the environment, actually. And what do you think they do that's important to the environment? Well, I know that them creating their dams creates habitat for a lot of other animals.
Starting point is 00:23:40 Like, they create riparian habitat, and they improve the actual quality of those waterways. So their dams, like the construction of their dams is the number one thing. And then they clear a lot of brush and stuff from the side of the rivers too. Yeah. That leads to less erosion and helps just the health of the entire system. It helps a lot. Like flooding is really important for waterways. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:24:03 It helps with plant growth. And they knock down a lot of trees with leaves. Uh-huh. And that's the best way for those type of trees to, like, grow more trees is to, like, go into waterway. Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I know that like when they brought wolves back to Yellowstone, one of the benefits were that because of the different chain reactions, more beavers started being around too.
Starting point is 00:24:25 And that like helped the ecosystem get even stronger. Yeah, it helps fish, salmon and trout a lot. It gives them like pools to breed in with like smoother water. So yeah, they do a lot for the environment. They do a few negative things, but the positives like far outweigh that. Drop, drop trees. on old women's. And then their teeth never stopped growing.
Starting point is 00:24:51 Yeah, I did know that. That's why they're always chewing on trees. It's like they don't want to just get huge teeth. Yeah, yeah, because they'll actually, like, grow through their skull or up through their mouth if they don't do that. And I have a high school story. About a fever? Being in class.
Starting point is 00:25:06 Well, kind of. Okay. So two of my friends in a history class, I'm going to change their names because I haven't asked them about, like, telling this story. Yeah. So we're going to go with Brad and John. Okay. And this was just like a boring class.
Starting point is 00:25:20 We weren't getting much out of it. So one day Brad just starts going to town on a pencil, just like chewing it up. Yeah. Chewing it up into pieces. I used to do that to my pencil. And like I looked at him and like I thought it was kind of funny. So then I think it encouraged him. And he ends up just like shredding the entire pencil.
Starting point is 00:25:43 Yeah. And it's just like a mess of like wood chips. all over the place. Now our friend John had two really big front teeth. Okay. So the teacher notices us and he comes over and he's like,
Starting point is 00:25:59 Brad, why did you chew up this pencil? We're in the middle of class, quit being distracting. And he's like, it wasn't me, I promise. And the teacher's like, there's wood chips all around you. And he's like, yeah, but John has the beaver teeth.
Starting point is 00:26:18 And apparently is a good enough argument to confuse the teacher because the teacher just let it go after that and kept teaching class. But I always thought, I don't know, it stuck with me. Yeah. That's a good. That's a beaver store. That's close enough. Close enough.
Starting point is 00:26:36 We count. All right. All right. Well, any final thoughts on, like any questions? Uh, no. I mean, I, I, I, I. guess a couple things to add is beavers were like
Starting point is 00:26:49 historically really persecuted by people when they came over here from Europe. Yeah. We killed tons and tons and tons of beavers mostly for fashion. Like they used them for hats and for clothing and for a lot of other stuff because they do have like a really beautiful
Starting point is 00:27:05 fur. And then also they have like a gland that produces I think it's called castorium. It's something like that. But they use that in medicine. So beavers got killed. It smells like vanilla. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:27:18 Bevers got killed for a lot of stuff. Also, just a side note, if you guys hear some barking in the background, it's the neighbor's dog. Yeah, anyways, we, like, we gave beavers a real hard time for a long time, but luckily they survived it. Good. Yeah, in Europe, they actually almost got wiped out. I was reading in, like, so the Belarus attack. Yeah. They almost didn't have any beavers in Belarus, and now they have, that was in 2013.
Starting point is 00:27:45 and they had three times more beavers, so they had 80,000 beavers in the country. Wow. It's a lot of beavers. Yeah. And I guess that the president said to hunters, you can kill as many beavers as you want. Oh, come on, man. But it's so easy to kill them because you just like find their dams that not very mean people wanted to kill them, so they still have a big beaver problem. And I read a lot of people die from beavers through STDs. You conflated some of your... I couldn't verify me.
Starting point is 00:28:19 After this episode, me and you should have a little talk that's long overdue. Okay. So when you guys think of beavers, do you think about their tail or their teeth first? I think about their tail. I think about their tail, but it's close. Yeah. How about you? I think the teeth, actually, yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:36 Their teeth are really, like, they really are just like bright orange. Yeah, they're really interesting. And they're just huge and they're hanging out. I mean... Yeah. Yeah, it's weird because I've never really thought beavers were like that cute, but when I see a beaver, I always get pretty excited. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:52 And like I see a few a year. Once I was fishing and one just like swam right in front of me and I was like hip deep in the water. And that one I remember being like, oh, I might get bit by a beaver. And it scared my older brother, Cyrus, enough to where he didn't want to fish anymore. They're like cute until they smile. Yeah. And then you see their teeth, it's like, oh. It looks like a huge rat then.
Starting point is 00:29:13 Yeah. Sorry to all you who had things. rats are cute. I'm sure a lot of you do. Should we, should we go to categories? Sure. Yeah, let's do it. Okay. So we got, um, let's see, favorite beaver and pop culture. Why don't you guys go first? Yeah, I'll go first. So I, I love the show. I grew up watching angry beavers. Yeah. And Daggett, naturally. Um, Norwood's great too, but I love Daggett from that show. So he's probably my favorite beaver. See, I never watched it too much, but I'm glad you went with it because I think that's like, one of the more popular beavers in culture.
Starting point is 00:29:48 Yeah, they deserve it. Okay, so I'm going deep dive on this one. I'm going with the office, the TV show. Yeah. And there's an episode where Jim mentions Justin Beaver to Dwight. Yeah. And Dwight says, what's a justice beaver? Okay.
Starting point is 00:30:07 And Jim says, just what it sounds like, beaver that cares about justice. And I always really like that reference. Yes. So Justice Beaver from the office is my right. I'm going to go with. I'm surprised neither of us thought of that one. Yeah. I guess.
Starting point is 00:30:28 I'm going to go with Mr. and Mrs. Beaver from the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe. Yeah. They're very welcoming, nice beavers. I feel like maybe one of them or both of them gives up their lives for the safety of the other people. I don't remember. Yeah. The big battle at the end of. Lion the Witch in the wardrobe. I think one of the beavers dies. One of them dies I think so yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:48 Good choice. All right. Cage match weight class so it'd pretty much just be beaver versus monitor lizard right? Yeah. And spider. I think we could put yeah we could put the spider in there. We can do monitor lizard I mean if they grow up to 60 pounds we could maybe put the chimpanzee in there too. So we'll put those four animals together. Yeah. I think the beaver and the monitor lizards are best fight.
Starting point is 00:31:19 Yeah. And that one's going to be pretty interesting. Yeah, I think tail slaps are an underrated move. Yeah, but the monitor does that too. True. That's more like a tail whip. It's going to be a tail fight. It's like a tail whip versus a tail slap.
Starting point is 00:31:33 Yeah. I'd probably say the beaver would chase the monitor off, but I'm not sure. What do you think about the ancient beaver versus some of our bigger animals? Oh, yeah, the 200-pan one. Yeah, 200-pound beaver versus a 200-pound bear. That'd be a wild fight. Big old teeth. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:31:50 Yeah, that's a good fight. Who you think wins. I don't, probably the bear, but I'm not sure. Bears have claws, yeah. And they're like, they're a predatory animal. True. But it's kind of funny how in movies and stuff, beavers always have, like, cute little square teeth.
Starting point is 00:32:07 But then when you see a picture of their actual teeth, they're, like, long and orange and, like, kind of hooked. Let's do. Let's do how we like it. How much do we like beavers? Okay. This is real like mid-range animal for me. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:32:23 I'm going to say they're like, yeah, there's somewhere in the middle. I like them just because I see them a lot. So like the exposure to them is always cool. When like there's an animal you can see. Yeah. So like fishing, I'll see a beaver maybe two or three times a year. Right. I really like the facts I learned.
Starting point is 00:32:43 about like the two rooms and their dams and stuff. That made me like them better. But yeah, I'll probably go with like 33. Yeah. There's a lot of animals that when I see one, I come home and I like think about it all day. And if it's a really cool animal, I'll think about it for like weeks or months, like seeing it. And beavers, one of those? And a beaver, I don't think about it.
Starting point is 00:33:05 Oh, it's not one else. No. Okay. Yeah. Mike? Yeah, I like, I feel generally positive towards beavers. I like them. but again, this actually is an animal I've seen in the wild.
Starting point is 00:33:17 And I'm kind of like Wes. I thought about it on the drive home. That was pretty cool. And then that's about it. Generally positive towards beavers. Another cool fact that I didn't mention is they have a third eyelid that they can use and it like works as a goggle. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:34 Like alligators. Yeah. Oh, really? So wait, is it translucent? In alligators and crocodiles and stuff, they call that a nictitating membrane. Yeah, and I'm guessing it's probably the same in beavers. I'm not sure, though. Yeah, I'm not sure.
Starting point is 00:33:47 Okay. Wow. They're translucent. I didn't know they had two eyelids, let alone three. Yeah. And then... I already kind of talked about how we're messing things up for them. For beavers?
Starting point is 00:33:59 Mostly just for trapping. And it used to be a lot worse than it. But they're in pretty good shape now. In Europe, they were almost wiped out, but now they're doing good. Yeah. I was going to bring up the Olympics category, but this sounds more like a lumber job. games kind of competitor. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:34:15 They'd be good at the log-rolling trees and log-rolling. You know, that can be in the Animal Olympics. That's a good one. Yeah. So in our Animal Olympics, there are tree cutters. Yeah, tree-cutters. They're undefeated. And apparently faster than any human swimmer, which is surprising to me.
Starting point is 00:34:32 I wouldn't guess that. They could beat Michael Phelps. I think elephants would beat them at knocking down trees, but in their weight class, they're definitely the best. All right. I think that's pretty good. Yeah. Thanks for the Beaver episode, Jeff. You're welcome.
Starting point is 00:34:45 Yeah. Go Beaver's. Yeah. It's fun. Go beavers. Cool. Well, thanks, guys. Yeah, thanks again. Yeah. Send us messages anytime you want. Any questions or you want to just hit us up and chat. You can message them to us on Instagram. And I think pretty soon we'll start like a mailbag email to where it's just like specifically for questions and messages. Yeah. Cool. Yep. All right. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Jeff. Bye. See it.

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