Beavers could reduce flood risk for town with dams
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Beavers have big front teeth to chop trees down
Beavers in Yorkshire may have helped reduce the risk of flooding in a Yorkshire town after building England's largest beaver dam.
The water loving rodents are famous for their big front teeth and the ability to build dams for rivers and streams.
The creatures have been introduced to a Yorkshire forest to see whether they can help maintain man-made dams.
They live upstream from Pickering, a town which has been flooded four times in the last 25 years, so scientists wondered if they could help.
Beavers work night and day to build dams
A dam is something which slows down or blocks a river or stream
Dams can be used to help with farming by saving water, and can create electricity by forcing water through turbines at high speeds
Dams can also help prevent flooding by creating pools higher upstream
Beaver dams filter water to make it cleaner downstream
How are beavers helping?
Beavers are known for their engineering skills which they use to help protect their homes - called lodges.
The rodents build dams to create deeper pools of water attached to rivers or streams to help them get around.
The dams also help other wildlife like frogs, insects and otters and can be very useful for humans too.
Beavers became extinct in the UK in the 1500s because of hunting but scientists have been reintroducing them to parts of the UK over the last decade.
Some beaver dams can be huge - like this one in America.
Beaver homes, called lodges, have secret underwater entrances only beavers can get to
Beaver dams filter water, making it cleaner downstream
Beavers have orange front teeth because they're hardened with the metal iron to help chop down trees
Beavers have a second lip, so they can carry sticks and chew while underwater
Beavers have see-through eyelids, so they don't need goggles to see underwater!
Would the town flood without the beaver's help?
Experts say the beavers may be helping towards stopping the town of Pickering from flooding, but it's unlikely to completely stop floods.
Cath Bashford, an ecologist, says "the beaver dams are having an impact in slowing the flow of the water travelling through the site" which she says "could have an impact on reducing the risk of flooding downstream"
What they're mostly interested in is whether beavers can maintain a dam already built by humans.
People built the dam on the stream originally, but if beavers can fix it and keep it working for longer it's a bonus for everyone.
Scientists say they'll continue to keep an eye on the creatures beavering away as part of a five year study to see what impact they'll have on the area.
- Published12 July 2021
- Published1 October 2021
