Emma Joyner- Eager Beaver

 In the introduction and chapter 1 of Eager, the author describes a very early beaver that burrowed into the ground in a particular corkscrew-like fashion. Just as humans are habitat-builders, beavers are too. They have a drive beyond a particular niche to rearrange and build. While the Palaeocastor burrowed in the ground, its descendants, took on an aquatic lifestyle — they were Diopoides and they also chewed on wood. It’s important to learn when the beaver lineage made this aquatic change, as the implications of such a change would have a large ecological impact. At first, we thought the wood-cutting evolved to make “food catches”. Beavers made their home in North America, where they inhabited anywhere with water. The author also discusses the fur trade and how beavers were highly sought after but also viewed as pests for their dam-building behavior that interferes with human infrastructure. Goldfarb then mentions initiatives aimed at reintroducing beavers to areas where they were removed, illustrating how these efforts can restore ecological balance and benefit other species as well. 


Along with the idea that beavers are habitat builders, they naturally rearrange their landscapes and play a large ecological role where they provide nutrients to many other animals. We all know beavers make dams and humans, of course, find the beavers’ niche to be a nuisance. In removing beaver dams and reducing their homes, we are denying the environmental this critical lifeline and taking the beavers’ inherent purpose away. This is yet another example of human interaction that interferes with the natural balance of our environment, and we need to find ways to coexist with the land and animals around us rather than adapting them to suit our own selfish needs.


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