How do animals like beavers and otters stay clean underwater (and benefit their environment at the same time)

A British beaver living out its life on the the river Otter in Devon

Anyone who has removed a branch or similar from a pond, will remember the incredible quantity of weed that will have wrapped around it. Any surface which lies underwater, tends to accumulate variety of things which makes it “grimy”. From dirt to algae and even bacteria, the process is called fouling.

However, animals like otters and beavers do not have to spend large amounts of time removing these substances from their fur – Why? This ability comes in part from the fur itself, where each hair can bend and flex as the animal moves, and a recent study showed that this ability to move allows the accumulation of dirt to be less than half of that when the hair is held steady at both ends (or for instance in hair that does not sway). This is a big issue in places such as boat, and people are working on ways to stop this.

It is fascinating the way that so many human processes take their inspiration from the natural world.

Beaver dams create barriers which allow all these bad substances to be removed. Dams block large quantities of soil, manure, slurry and fertilisers from rivers and streams, The stationary water allows substances like fertilizers and other chemical substances to sink to the bottom and be removed from the river ecosystem. Both the European beaver and the American beaver have the same impact on their water environment. While otters do not have the same dam making ability, they do have cleaning impacts on their environments as well.

It is well known, that while otters and beavers are often not the first species to return after a river is polluted, they can accelerate the process.

January 7, 2024January 7, 2024

Otters not yet safe in Cumbria

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The recovery of otters in the UK continues apace, but threats remain

Otters were once one of the most common predators in the UK. However, being apex predators, they are the first sign of contamination in the system. This is because, while each fish may have a low enough dose to not be impacted, when the otter has eaten many fish they are impacted.

The main threats have been chemical runoff from farms, though sewage is also a problem.

By the 1980s, the British otter was virtually extinct from large parts of the country, only surviving in remote places, far from people and pollution. Oddly, otter hunting with special hounds was not banned until 1981, which will not have helped.

No more! Otters are now found within all counties of the UK. Now, it is true that otters are hard to see – they have always been. Generally they are species which require you to be out at strange times of the day, or just very lucky.

There are places to head where this is not the case, such as the Isle of Mull and similar islands around the UK, where the otters are dependent on the tide, so can be easier to find active in daylight.

On mainland Britain, it seems that Cumbria is an increasingly good place to look, with all suitable habitat now occupied.

Time will tell, but hopefully in the near future, this will be the case all over the UK.

aaa Zhangjiajie sandstone peak forest reserve, China

Zhangjiajie sandstone peak forest reserve, China

This reserve covers a complex to trevane covered in ravines deep canyons and has a mild climate with abundant rainfall. As a result much of the area is covered by rainforest and there is a great deal of wildlife. It is a total of 1,400 square miles or 3,600 square kilometres.

Animals of particular interest include the leopard, the clouded leopard, the pygmy slow loris, the yellow belly pheasant, and long-tailed pheasant, the giant salamander, five step snake and many more. Others include the stump tailed macaque, the suman sheep, the pangolin, the black bear, the lynx, the otter, the forest musk deer, the samba deer, the jackal, the mandarin duck, the sparrow hawk and a few more.

Rare species include the bison, the wild goat, the wild boar, the wildcat, the civit cat, the flying squirrel and several more.

November 16, 2020January 22, 2024

Sea-lion struck down by epilepsy – brought on by global warming

There is an increasing problem of sea-lions off the coast of California becoming epileptic as result of global warming.

It appears to be caused by domoic acid poisoning, which in the wrong circumstances builds up to dangerous levels in shellfish and other sea animals in the area.

Domoic acid can be released in large quantities during algae blooms, and due to global warming algae blooms are happening far more often.

Another animal this is prone to this problem are sea otters. Given the historical damage we did to the sea otter population, unfortunately lee6 could do substantial damage.

Scientists have found treatments that will allow them to deal with animals affected,however it may become necessary to find methods of making them affected instead as algae blooms will become more and more common as the temperature of the water’s increase.

March 18, 2018December 3, 2023

News in brief – Otters in Peru, Adelie Penguins and Spring in the Arctic

Peru has set up a national park of 868,000 hectares that will protect the areas many animals and native people. This is one of the remaining areas of untouched Amazon within Peru. A recent survey saw showed that this area had a good population of giant otters. This is particularly exciting because, Continue reading “News in brief – Otters in Peru, Adelie Penguins and Spring in the Arctic”