Beaver Dam Visible From Space

ygslash writes "The Hoover Dam no longer holds the title of the world's widest dam. Satellite photos of northern Alberta, Canada, show that several families of beavers have apparently joined forces to build a dam 850 meters wide, more than twice as wide as the Hoover Dam."

Comments

Bigger is Better

[BJ_Covert_Action]

....And you Canadians always give us Yanks crap about thinking bigger is better....sheesh.

Re:Bigger is Better

[somersault]

I don't really think wideness is a quality to be encouraged in beaver circles. Hopefully at least they've kept it trim.

Re:Bigger is Better

[davester666]

Everything's bigger up here. Texas is just where Canadian's try things out before commissioning the full-size model...

Re:Bigger is Better

[Cryacin]

Yeah, that's right. Leave it to beavers.

Re:Bigger is Better

[siloko]

The real story of course is slashdot linking to a Fox News science and technology skit. Like the author even knows what a Beaver is, let alone where Canada resides . . .

Re:Bigger is Better

[Arthur Grumbine]

...let alone where Canada resides . . .

Give me a break! Everyone knows that Canada bought a house in Minnesota so that she could get quality health care on-demand. Whether or not she's technically a "resident" is up for debate...

Re:Bigger is Better

[Romancer]

It is thought that several beaver families joined forces to create the massive dam, containing thousands of trees, and took many months to complete it.

Point 1. News is not supposed to include only speculation of events to support the main title. Investigate. That's why you're supposed to be better than a blog.

Point 2. Really, FOX? Fox News. On slashdot, about a beaver dam. WTF?

Point 3. It took beavers only a matter of months to do this when we take years and they still break. Why aren't we seeing a story about remote controlled animals with tools working en mass to build projects like this. Now that's a story that should be on Slashdot.

Re:Bigger is Better

[tuxgeek]

Over here in west-Canada aka Alaska
We like to joke that if you divide Alaska in half and make each half a state
Texas would still be the third largest state
Isn't that great !!

-- sig test
Alaska, pissing off Texas since 1959

Re:Bigger is Better

[sconeu]

Would those states be "North Alaska" and "Even-Further-North Alaska"?

Re:Bigger is Better

[lbourn]

Funny that beaver dams never break. You would think that since they're made out of untreated wood, that the water would rot them at some random point that beavers can't even foresee....

I don't know if you were joking, but beaver dams break all the time. Usually they're not huge breaches but little leaks, and not usually due to wood rotting but due to mud washing out and sticks coming loose. The little guys are constantly repairing and mending the dams. They have OCD and can't stand the sound of running water -- that's their trigger to fix the dam.

Re:Bigger is Better

[Tobenisstinky]

No, but they kept a mistake, anyone else notice is says they [build] "moat around their lodges so they can swim and drive" Drive? what do they drive?

850 meters? One word for you....

[MyLongNickName]

DAMN!

Re:850 meters? One word for you....

[kimvette]

obligatory

STATE OF MICHIGAN
Reply to: GRAND RAPIDS DISTRICT OFFICE STATE OFFICE BUILDING 6TH FLOOR
350 OTTAWA NW GRAND RAPIDS MI 49503-2341
JOHN ENGLER, Governor
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
HOLLISTER BUILDING, PO BOX 30473, LANSING MI 48909-7973
INTERNET: http://www.deq.state.mi/
RUSSELL J. HARDING, Director

December 17, 1997

CERTIFIED

Mr. Ryan DeVries 2088 Dagget Pierson, MI 49339

Dear Mr. DeVries:

SUBJECT: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023-1 T11N, R10W, Sec. 20, Montcalm County

It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity on the above referenced parcel of property. You have been certified as the legal landowner and/or contractor who did the following unauthorized activity:

Construction and maintenance of two wood debris dams across the outlet stream of Spring Pond. A permit must be issued prior to the start of this type of activity. A review of the Department's files show that no permits have been issued.

Therefore, the Department has determined that this activity is in violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Michigan Compiled Laws annotated. The Department has been informed that one or both of the dams partially failed during a recent rain event, causing debris dams and flooding at downstream locations. We find that dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted. The Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all unauthorized activities at this location, and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by removing all wood and brush forming the dams from the strewn channel. All restoration work shall be completed no later than January 31, 1998. Please notify this office when the restoration has been completed so that a follow-up site inspection may be scheduled by our staff. Failure to comply with this request, or any further unauthorized activity on the site, may result in this case being referred for elevated enforcement action. We anticipate and would appreciate your full cooperation in this matter.

Please feel free to contact me at this office if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

David L. Price
District Representative Land and Water Management Division

Dear Mr. Price:
Re: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023; T11N, R10W, Sec 20; Montcalm County

Your certified letter dated 12/17/97 has been handed to me to respond to. You sent out a great deal of carbon copies to a lot of people, but you neglected to include their addresses. You will, therefore, have to send them a copy of my response.

First of all, Mr. Ryan DeVries is not the legal landowner and/or contractor at 2088 Dagget, Pierson, Michigan -- I am the legal owner and a couple of beavers are in the (State unauthorized) process of constructing and maintaining two wood "debris" dams across the outlet stream of my Spring Pond. While I did not pay for, nor authorize, their dam project, I think they would be highly offended you call their skillful use of natural building materials "debris." I would like to challenge you to attempt to emulate their dam project any dam time and/or any dam place you choose. I believe I can safely state there is no dam way you could ever match their dam skills, their dam resourcefulness, their dam ingenuity, their dam persistence, their dam determination and/or their dam work ethic.

As to your dam request the beavers first must fill out a dam permit prior to the start of this type of dam activity, my first dam question to you is: are you trying to discriminate against my Spring Pond Beavers or do you require all dam beavers throughout this State to conform to said dam request? If you are not discriminating against these particular beavers, please send me completed copies of all those other applicable beaver dam permits. Perhaps we will

Re:850 meters? One word for you....

[oldhack]

"rule number 1 of slashdot: ANY thread can be twisted into a bash of microsoft. no exceptions."

Well, if you insist.

This is another case of egregious anti-competitive collusion - the furry animal (but not quite sweaty) version of Microsoft. Nuke'em from the orbit.

Re:850 meters? One word for you....

[biryokumaru]

You seem to have missed the $10,000 a day fine they wanted to levy against the beavers.

Check your assumptions

[Locke2005]

Actually, just one beaver family built the dam. They then sold timeshares to all the other beaver families now living there.

I like beavers

[SoupGuru]

Putting aside the obvious jokes for a second, I always liked the fact that beavers are like humans because they modify their environment to suit their needs like we do.

Re:I like beavers

[Supurcell]

It's not like they're the only ones either. Birds, ants, spiders, gofers, and a whole lot more build structures to live more comfortably in. Humans need to stop thinking they are so special.

Re:I like beavers

[geekoid]

Humans are special.

We make steel, make building from concrete and glass. We've been to the moon and sent device outside our solars system.

We can build damns, can beavers build space ships?

Human beings kick ass.

Although the original poster was being a little slow in the head. I mean, ALL creatures modify their environment. You have to in order to reproduce and eat.

Re:I like beavers

[mysidia]

Humans need to stop thinking they are so damn special.

There, fixed it for you.

Re:I like beavers

[capebretonsux]

There's no other species on earth quite like any other species on earth, period.

Re:I like beavers

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually animals DO modify their tools too. SOME chimpazees are known to fix the end of their twigs to make them better tools for catching termites. Also, some corvids (don't remember the species) in the wild will shape the twigs to make hooks to get the grups from holes in the branches. When in the lab, the birds would find the steel wire left around and also make hooks, sometimes to achieve tasks more complex than just pulling a grup out of a hole. I don't remember the details, just that it involved triggering a mechanism to get to some water. Those stories were posted on Slashdot. Actually, for their size, birds' brains are way more efficient than mammal brains. You get more complex problem solving in much smaller animals than mammals.

So basically, tool MAKING not just using, is not a special human trait either. Most of the basics of what we like to call typically human are there in nature. We have just had the opportunity to accumulate enough of those traits and polish them to a higher degree. It's a matter of degree more than substance. Though, I think we are still the only ones with a written language (and that certainly is a powerful way of compounding those original traits).

Re:I like beavers

[CarpetShark]

We make steel,

So? Spiders shit webs that are stronger than steel.

Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest?

[Anonymous Coward]

The Hoover Dam isn't even a very wide dam (1234 ft)... It's known for being tall.

Re:Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest?

[LurkerXXX]

Not the widest in the world by a long shot. http://www.digalist.com/list/158

Re:Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest?

[jo_ham]

The original article was from Fox News - I'm just amazed they realised it was a damn, and not a giant vacuum cleaner given the quality of their fact checking.

Re:Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest?

[interkin3tic]

The original article was from Fox News - I'm just amazed they realised it was a damn, and not a giant vacuum cleaner given the quality of their fact checking.

Coming up next, are Saddam's weapons of mass destruction hidden in the beaver sadDAM?!?

Experts say no, we say maybe.

Re:Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest?

[Bob9113]

The original article was from Fox News - I'm just amazed they realised it was a damn, and not a giant vacuum cleaner given the quality of their fact checking.

It is, IMO, even more damning than that -- it's a wire feed article that originated with The Sun, England's answer to The New York Post. The closest they get to journalism is printing slightly fewer Bigfoot sightings than The Weekly World News.

Having no actual investigative reporters and blindly publishing things from credible news feeds is one thing (the death-knell of traditional media's role in journalism, for example). Doing the same with a tabloid as your source is even worse.

Re:Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest?

[sparrowhead]

That's amazing. I've got the same combination on my luggage.

Re:Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest?

[Xest]

The common factor is that it's all Murdoch media- Fox, The Sun, The New York Post etc.

Yes, it's scary as fuck that the most succesful news corporation world wide is the one that's most full of shit globally.

Hell, they even look possibly set to be getting their own way and putting David Cameron into power in the UK today, fingers crossed things don't quite go entirely Rupert's way and we get a hung parliament now.

News Corporation papers are unfortunately responsible for more than just getting beaver stories wrong. Honestly, the best thing that could happen to the Western world would be the bankruptcy of Murdoch and the fall of all his papers etc. Him getting hit by a large truck would be nice too, because ultimately his love of spreading bullshit is responsible for more misery and problems globally through the spread of lies, ignorance, and bad government than some of the worlds worst dictators in history. If you look at the influence Fox had on getting Bush elected for example (even if you don't believe Fox's call was what gave him the election, all pre-election slandering of opposition makes a differences) then you can really link him to the fact the US went into Iraq in the first place even though it had nothing to do with 9/11. The actions of his news outlets have real, serious, knock on effects that can set off chains of events that cause tens, possibly hundreds of thousands to die.

Of course, Murdoch isn't unique, others are as bad, he's just the king of evil in this respect. It's quite sad really. What makes it worse is that his offspring are just as bad and are taking over the reigns from him, so it's not as if we'll get rid of him that way either.

Was the Hoover Dam ever the worlds widest?

[Seraphim1982]

"The Hoover Dam no longer holds the title of the world's widest dam.

Well, given the fact that the Kuybyshev Hydroelectric Station which was built in the 50's is almost 3000m wide, it's been a LONG time since the Hoover Dam was the worlds widest. Given the fact that the Hoover Dam is very narrow for a its overall size, I'd be pretty surprised if it was ever the worlds widest.

Re:Was the Hoover Dam ever the worlds widest?

[Chris Burke]

Yeah, I always thought Hoover was impressive for it's height, not width. And WP says it was the highest dam in the US when built (and is now the 2nd highest). Dunno about worldwide, but really, I don't care exactly, it's a tall dam in any case. Let's see some stupid beaver build a damn over 700 ft tall!

Re:Was the Hoover Dam ever the worlds widest?

[Anne_Nonymous]

Yeah. Plus it's called a dental dam, not a beaver dam regardless of how you use it. Who proofs these articles anyhow?

Unaided?

[Itninja]

The article doesn't say, but is this the unaided eye (e.g. a guy in he space shuttle could look out the window and see it)? Because I could see my house from modern satellite pictures.

And who lives downstream of this wonder?

[Tiger4]

If it ever cuts loose there will be an epic flood. Did the Beaver Inspectors ever get a look at it? After all Size isn't everything. How many logs went into that thing anyway? Was it checked for strength, flexibility under loads, ability to hold back before gushing? This could be pretty important for anyone below it. Canada's National Honour could be at stake!

Re:And who lives downstream of this wonder?

[dangitman]

Stan: It's MY fault. I broke the dam.
Cartman: Aw, man...
Sharon Marsh: ...Stanley...you?
Man: No. Don't you see what this child is saying? We can't spend all our energy placing blame when something bad happens. He's saying...we all broke the dam.
Stan: No. I broke the dam.
Woman: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: No. I broke the dam.
Woman: And I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Cartman: Hehe...I broke the dam!
Man: I broke the dam.
Woman: I broke the dam.
Stan: [trying to insist] I broke the dam. I ran a boat into the dam and I broke it.
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: No! I broke the fucking dam!
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: I literally broke the dam!
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: On a boat! That wasn't mine!
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: I kept it secret for two days!
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: The boat caught on fire and it exploded!
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: Aw, fuck it!

Re:And who lives downstream of this wonder?

[winthrop]

If it ever cuts loose there will be an epic flood. Did the Beaver Inspectors ever get a look at it? After all Size isn't everything. How many logs went into that thing anyway? Was it checked for strength, flexibility under loads, ability to hold back before gushing? This could be pretty important for anyone below it. Canada's National Honour could be at stake!

I'm sure the beavers appreciate your input. Let me assure you, extensive thought goes into dam design.

FOX news?

[Karganeth]

On my slashdot? It's more likely than you think!

Re:FOX news?

[hondo77]

Not FOX. BEAVER!! Didn't you RTFA?!? Jesus Fu.... Oh, wait...

This is interesting

[roman_mir]

This is interesting, because this is a story about a huge beaver dyke that can be seen from space.

Re:This is interesting

[MightyMartian]

Just put a finger in it. You'll know the difference soon enough.

My car is too...

[rm999]

My car is also visible from space, via Google Map's "satellite view".

Does that make my 1995 Chevy special?

Lt. Frank Drebin Says...

[carlzum]

Nice Beaver!

Re:Lt. Frank Drebin Says...

[sbeckstead]

Thanks, we just had it stuffed...

The biggest tam is Three Gorges Dam

[trelony]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges_Dam

They really are the only ones.

[mosb1000]

The difference is that beavers don't just build a home, they also make radical changes to their natural environment which puts them in an entirely different class. It's comparable to the way we build dams for flood control (except . . the other way around) or plant crops to grow food. The changes they make expand their habitat rather than simply providing shelter.

Okay everyone: Google Maps Link!

[Kaz Kylheku]

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=58.270908,+-112.251972+(World's+Biggest+Beaver+Dam)&sll=58.270908,-112.15071&sspn=1.027008,2.469177&g=58.270908,+-112.150710&ie=UTF8&ll=58.271526,-112.253623&spn=0.016047,0.038581&t=h&z=15

Cheers!

Yeah, I just have a question.

[SupremoMan]

Um, is this a God dam?

Re:Dam!

[Vinegar Joe]

Woah. These Beavers can build complex structures AND drive?

They drive ottermobiles.

Fox thinks pretty highly of those beavers

[NathanBullock]

I liked the last paragraph of the article "It is thought that several beaver families joined forces to create the massive dam, containing thousands of trees, and took many months to complete it."

Compare that to the article from the CBC "Biologists estimate the dam would have taken at least 20 years to build. It is visible in NASA satellite imagery from 1990."

Re:Fox thinks pretty highly of those beavers

[Bueller_007]

From the Vancouver Sun: "[Park spokesman Mike Keizer] suspects the beavers have been working on it for some time, in part because it is overgrown with vegetation and progressive satellite images from as far back as the 1970s show it expanding year after year."

Better Pictures

[creativeHavoc]

Non-satellite images here: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/World+biggest+beaver+eight+football+fields+long+seen+from+space/2991042/story.html

Not Widest

[Roger W Moore]

....And you Canadians always give us Yanks crap about thinking bigger is better....sheesh.

Perhaps they were trying to emulate this which is an 18km long dam also in Northern Alberta. All they need now is to fill their pond with toxic sludge....

Seriously

[skam240]

Seriously everybody, nature's fucking awesome.

850 meters???

[TrisexualPuppy]

Leave this one to the Chinese. The Three Gorges Dam is almost thrice as long, 2335 meters. PLEASE check your facts before accepting these submissions.

And if anyone cares, here's an obligatory Google map of the beaver dam and here's one for Three Gorges Dam.

Re:850 meters???

[skine]

Which is still half 500m shy of the Zhiguli Hydroelectric Station.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuybyshev_Hydroelectric_Station

Re:850 meters???

[Derf the]

Whoa there buddy; easy on the capitals there.

The Egyptians put up one 3830m wide (the Aswan High Dam) in the 1960's.

It's Fox News; do you want to fact check The Onion as well?

Re:850 meters???

[azuravian]

Yes, but the description is measuring width, not length. In this case, the 3 gorges is only about 115 meters, vs 221 meters for the Hoover. The description is still wrong though, the Zhiguli Dam in Russia is about 750 meters wide and there may be others that are wider (seeing as the Zhiguli was completed in the 50s).

Re:850 meters???

[Cryacin]

Why bother? They have the exact same stories on there.

Re:850 meters???

[Anarki2004]

Nah, The Onion is more reputable.

Re:850 meters???

[PDX]

"Damn them all, damn them all to hell!" Remember when Star Trek was considered revolutionary by the public. Now we're debating who has the best beavers. What use is the Sat data really worth in the hands of closed minded people? The standard that Star Trek rebelled against was the separate and unequal society that paid for the shows ad revenue. That is why it was canceled. Not due to actors walking off set. Gene rebelled against the mentality of Fox and right wing dogmas. Just ask Wil Weaton I'm sure he's on here several times a week.

Re:850 meters???

[Viski]

Actually, they discuss length in the news article:

The incredible woodland construction is a staggering 2,790 feet in length -- more than half a mile long.

The OP is the one who has confused length and width. And in every case, claiming that Hoover Dam is the largest dam in the world by any measure is just plain wrong.

Re:850 meters???

[Hal_Porter]

All of the senior engineers in that firm are beavers.

This story is 2 years old!

[InakaBoyJoe]

I coulda sworn I saw this on Slashdot some time ago, but in any case, this "news" is at least two years old...

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/04/14/beaver-park.html

Chinese Beaver Dams

[Guppy]

Leave this one to the Chinese.

I hear beaver dams in China go "sideways"...

Afsluitdijk

[maroberts]

Seems they named it by random keyboard pressing...