CHAPTER II 
Tue INTELLIGENCE OF THE BEAVER 
It is not easy to write of the intelligence of the beaver 
or of that of any other of the lower animals. The opinions 
of the various writers on the subject vary widely, some 
crediting the animal with a high degree of intelligence, and 
others denying that it is possessed of anything more than a 
highly developed and specialized instinct. Right here we 
come to the difficulty of defining the difference between 
instinct and intelligence, or perhaps it might be better to 
say where one begins and the other ends. Intellectually 
the beaver is human-like in that it does some very clever 
things, and it also does some very stupid ones, and it should 
not be judged solely by either. 
The rodents, of which order the beaver is a member, are 
rather low in the scale, and the brain is smooth, wanting in 
convolutions, these facts apparently indicating a low mental 
capacity. The beaver does not differ from other rodents 
in respect to the structure of the brain. 
I find it somewhat difficult to define my own position in 
the matter. Perhaps it might be well for me to say that I 
have never made any study of psychology, and whatever 
opinions I may have are based upon observations made 
upon animals at various times. I do believe that animals 
have a certain amount of intelligence, as distinguished from 
instinct, very likely varying with the different orders, and 
of course with different individuals. 
My studies of the beaver have led me to the conclusion 
that it does act intelligently, not with the human intelli- 
gence some writers would ascribe to it, but that it does do 
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