How Big! Earl Plato
Yes, I am a Edwin Way Teale fan. The Pulitzer prize nature writer has long been a model for me. After twenty years of my nature writing I used many of Teale’s observations for article themes. I have seven of his books as reference and inspiration. Journey Through the Year, is my favourite Teale book. However, it is in his Pulitzer prize winning novel, Wandering Through Winter, that inspired this article about the beaver. I quote: “ It was in the summer of 1843 when John James Audubon descended the Missouri River in a fur company boat.” Audubon reports that one giant beaver measured almost five feet and weighed ninety pounds. Wow! Locally in the Niagara peninsula and in Western New York the beavers I have seen weighed about 25-30 lbs in my estimation. I made a movie of a beaver colony and caught a beaver on film. He was huge. How big? He disappeared quickly so I’ll never know. However, he was the largest I have ever seen. What about you? Any beavers in your territory? How big?
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