29 Jul 2010 Castoreum.
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Speaking further about the beaver’s biology one could not avoid discussing castoreum. I think this article will be interesting to many people.

Castoreum is a pair of sacs near the anus of the beaver. Wet weight of two sacs of the adult beaver makes 200-250 g. Distinguishing feature of castoreum is scent. It is so specific that it can not be confused with any other scent. I deliberately focus your attention on the fact that the beaver has got 4 sacs, but not 2! The second pair which is located near castor sacs, these are so called fat sacs.

Let’s investigate what castor and fat sacs consist of and what they are for. Contents of fat sacs remind oily liquid. By consistency it is like liquid viscous oil. Common opinion that the beaver uses fat sacs for “lubrication” of fur is mistaken. The latest investigations have shown that fat sacs have got pure communicative function. Fat sacs and their contents in males and females differ. Information about its owner is laid in these contents, so to speak – sex, age, position in the group and so on.

The second, but not less important, meaning of fat sacs is reduction of vaporability of castoreum which a beaver uses for marking of territory. As secretion of fat sacs has got oily structure it remains in air for a long time, vaporizing much slower than water. Getting into the water it spreads all along the surface bringing information to other beavers about the owner of the mark.

The contents of castor differ by the composition from the contents of fat sacs. It reminds plasticine but is a bit friable. Inside the sacs this “plasticine” is contained in the form of folds. These folds are surrounded by small quantity of liquid. The beaver uses its castor for marking the territory. How the beaver’s marks look like I will tell in the next articles. There is not much information about how castoreum is formed and what its composition is.

Supposedly castoreum is the beaver’s urine processed by glands. I used to find many guard hairs in sacs and I wonder how they got in there. It is also known that there are many ethereal oils in castoreum, which dissolve in alcohol and are not water soluble.

Many of you must have heard about castoreum. What is it famous for? Few people know that castor is used primarily in perfume-making. Unique feature of castor is retaining scents for quite a long time. And the beaver uses it for making its marks.

The second purpose of castor, medical, is not accepted by official medicine. But hunters use castor for medical purposes for ages. And castoreum is ascribed to be able to treat almost all diseases.

To use castor in a right way one should conserve it properly. To prepare tinctures you surely can use fresh castor but I consider that properly dried castor is much more useful. In the following articles I will tell about the methods of conservation.

I may say that use of castor liqueur raises general tone of the organism. People with hypertension should not use it. Or use it very carefully by little doses, preferably under medical observation.

And judging by the words of my friends, having used the liqueur, castor raises not only vitality…

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28 Jul 2010 Duck? Wild-goose? No, it’s a beaver!
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It seems to me that I’ve missed one more interesting moment in a beaver’s appearance. These are its back feet supplied with webs. Not many species can boast of such a device for swimming! A trace of a beaver’s back foot on the shore can easily mislead a person who has never faced this animal before. A beaver’s back foot or rather a claw has one more special feature. The third claw is forked. It is so called scratching claw, a beaver uses it for scratching and brushing its fur. And clean and fluffy fur is a guarantee of not only warm fell but of a future fur-cap as well…

Beavers can make rather long foot marches. It’s not typical for them though. A beaver is sure only in water. However when I was a student in the Institute one of our teachers had seen clear footprint of a beaver in a dried puddle. The distance between two nearest basins was about 5 km. The footprint was nearly in the middle. Well, maybe the beaver did not reach the river though, as it has so many enemies on land.
Beavers are active all over the year. With the colds activity descends but does not vanish at all. In winter beavers make passages and tunnels under snow. Once in winter I fell in such beaver tunnel. It was built along the frozen brook. The tunnel’s height was as such that I could grabble about 40-50 m. Then it became narrow and came out among the bush which the beaver fed on in winter.

During thaws traces of beaver coming out can be seen on the snow. At scarce feed in winter a beaver continues to nibble trees coming out of the basin on the snow, sometimes it goes very far, more then 100-150 m.

Winter is the most difficult time for beavers. Especially for those which live in stagnant basins (lakes and cutoff meanders). Now it’s the right time to mention a beaver’s teeth – incisors which it is famous for. The incisors are fit not only to nibble branches, grass and trees, but also to gnaw ice. But thickness of ice is of great import for a beaver’s survival. It can not bite through ice thicker than 1 meter. Ice on rivers is not of the same thickness that’s why it’s quite easier for a beaver to live there.

When spring comes a beaver becomes more active. It can be seen practically all day long. But not everywhere. In the daytime beavers feel safe only on those holdings which are little visited or remote. Basically a beaver’s activity starts with twilight and lasts till morning.
The highest activity of a beaver takes place in October-November. During this very period beavers start to store up feed for winter, to repair its dams. Members of beaver colony are active at this very period.

Speaking of a beaver colony I should tell that it consists of two adult individuals, two or four young (born last year) and two or four animals born this year. Sexual maturity of beavers begins at age of 2 years that is why individuals aged older than 2 years are banished from the colony. They may live in the neighborhood but with their own family, organizing in that way the separate colonies.

If we speak about beavers’ sexual maturity I’d say that coupling period on the average falls on February. Descendants come into the world in April-May. Average number of embryos in a female is 2-4. One of my acquaintances from Latvia contended though that the female with 8 (!) embryos was caught. Mentioning this I must reassure those who are against spring hunting. In Latvia hunting is permitted up to April 1. And some time ago the number of beavers was so high that they were allowed for bagging all the year round. I wish it were the same in our Kirovskaya Oblast…

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25 Jul 2010 Beaver’s tail.
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In the previous article I briefly told how a beaver looks like. But I didn’t mention a beaver’s tail. Now I’d like to describe it in details. A beaver’s tail is flat in horizontal plane. It has no fur and is covered with leathery folds looking like fish scale. But these folds have nothing to do with fish scale.

A beaver manages its tail rather skillfully. A tail helps an animal to swim under water. And the way a tail looks like directly depends on the type of a water basin a beaver lives in. As I’ve already told you in calm basins a beaver’s tail is wider, and in rivers with swift current it’s narrow.

A beaver dives and swims well. It can stay under the water up to 40 minutes. I personally watched the beaver which was staying under the water over 25 minutes. It is promoted by red corpuscles in a beaver’s blood. That is why a beaver’s meat is dark-red. A beaver swims much faster under water than on the surface.

Speaking further about a beaver’s tail it’s necessary to add that a beaver needs it not only for swimming. A tail is also a signal instrument. With its tail a beaver makes specific sounds – slaps on water. Taking into account that a beaver’s tail is flat even a small beaver can make a very loud slap. More frequently we can hear a slap already after a beaver has noticed us. With this slap it gives the signal of alarm – the strangers are coming!

Apart from visible danger signal a beaver makes slaps when it hears strange noise but can’t see anyone. In this case after the first slap a beaver comes up and listens, swimming around one place. Then series of 2–3 consequent slaps may proceed during which a beaver defines how dangerous the noise it has heard can be. Then it calms down and dives deep. I’d say that a beaver has superb hearing!

There’s one more reason for a beaver to make slaps. This is when a male tags the area of its habitat. In this case a male swimming out from the shelter declares itself with loud slaps. It happens when beavers feel themselves rather safety in the basin. As a rule only a large and strong beaver can afford such behavior – an excellent trophy for a hunter!

As for a beaver’s sight it falls behind its hearing. Like many other animals beavers react to movements and sharp outlines. To reach a beaver quite close you should just move without sharp motions and make as less noise as possible. If you’ve got a camouflage of a “wood-goblin” type then sneaking up to a beaver becomes much easier.

I’d like to note that it is a beaver’s quick ear that can help to bag it. What a beaver reacts to and how we can use this feature for hunting I will certainly tell you in the articles on a beaver’s hunting.

And now, as I’ve promised, about durability scale. Fur durability is defined by quantity of hairs (down and guard) on a square centimeter. The more hairs the higher fur durability is. Durability is defined in percentage ratio (from 10 up to 100 %) and with five-point scale (very high, high, average, below average, low).

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17 Sep 2009 Hunting a beaver.
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Beavers love an aspen

 One real story. The costs for spring hunting allowances have increased. A man from region takes the cheapest pass for hunting woodcock. Game manager asks him , do you know at least who the woodcock is ? Of course, he sais, it swims, nibbles the trees.

   No doubt, going to hunt someone  one  needs  to know  how this someone looks like. Lets analyse the beavers’ biology.

   Many of you have seen rats. So, the beavers are very much alike them, just a little bit larger. Besides they belong to the same order named “rodents”. The beaver’s length can reach one meter and even more. The average weight varies from 16 to 25 kg. One can meet even larger beaver though. In case you have reliable video recorded information about the beaver weighting over 35 kg, please, send it and you’ll become a record-holder. I’ve never personally met a beaver of such a weight though I’ve seen not a few of them. As for the talks such as I’ve got a beaver about 50 kg so it s the same story as about the wood grouse weighting 12 kg. Many people get them but no one can prove it.

  The beaver’s weight depends on it’s place of inhabitance. In the basins with stagnant water and plenty of feeding the beavers are able to reach greater weight. In the mountain rivers with poor feeding base their weight will be smaller. Mentioning the water basins, I’d like to sharpen your attention at the shape of the beaver’s tail. In the basins with little or no water flow the beaver’s “shovel” is shorter and wider. In the rivers with quick water flow it is narrower and longer. This is connected, first of all, with the necessity to resist the water flow.

   All in all, the whole shape of the beaver’s body is to the most adopted to the swimming in and under water. An oblong head, short ears, little eyes, webbed paws ! Only back paws, though. But is there any other rat, beside a beaver, with webs, even  only at the back paws? That’s it, beaver is a unique creature in its’ own way.

   Like all other rats beaver prefers living in the burrows. But there are some other kinds of the beavers’  habitations­ – lodges and semi-lodges. This will be the topic of the following special articles devoted to the beavers’ living places.

   The beavers’ front paws are short, with rather sharp claws. The beaver singled out here as well. Its’ front paws’ construction resembles that of the human beings and primates, that is, the thumb is opposed to all the other digits. This allows it to hold the branches and sticks and to dig the holes and channels, as well.

   The fur of the beaver is soft and silky, particularly that of the young animals. Adult beavers’   top  hair is a bit harder, but, on the whole, the  beaver’s hide doesn’t lose its’ attractiveness. Nowadays they pull out the top hair to get the soft and silky hide that is used in producing of different garments. I am sure to cover the topics of manufacturing and initial processing of the hide  as well as the ways and methods of producing the fur garments in the next articles.

   The colour of the fur varies from sandy- yellow to resinous-black, while there can be both red and black beavers in the same family. I must add again, that earlier the price of the hide used to depend on the colour of the beaver’s fur, the same with the sable fur – the darker the more expensive, but nowadays with the modern ways of manufacturing and painting it doesn’t matter much.                            

   I’ve nearly forgotten, according to the durability scale, the beaver’s fur shares the first place with the otter’s. What the durability is and how it can be judged, read in the next articles.

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10 Sep 2009 Hello world!
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Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

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