THE LIFE OF THE YELLOWSTONE BEAVER* 



By Edward R. Warren 



Collaborator, Roosevelt Field Naturalist, The Roosevelt Wild Life 

 Forest Experiment Station, Syracuse, New York 



Contents 



1. Why Study Beavers, and Where? 



2. Food of the Beaver. 



3. Beaver Engineering. 



4. Life History, Other Habits, and Enemies. 



5. Value of Beaver to the Park Visitor. 



6. References to Literature. 



Why Study Beavers, and Where? 



If I were to judge from my experience at Camp Roosevelt, in the 

 northeastern part of the Yellowstone National Park, during the past 

 summer, no animal except the bear arouses so much interest on the 

 part of the park visitors as the beaver. Within fifteen minutes' walk 

 from the camp, near the bridge over the Yellowstone River, and close 

 beside the Cooke City road, is a fine series of small beaver ponds 

 (figure 37). Hardly an evening passed during the summer but any- 

 where from half a dozen to thirty people thought it well worth while 

 to walk down there and spend an hour or more watching these 

 fascinating animals,- which are obliging enough to go about their 

 usual activities almost oblivious to the interested observers lined up 

 upon the bank beside the road. Here one can observe not only the 



* This preliminary account of the Yellowstone beaver is the first of a series 

 of papers on the wild life of the Yellowstone National Park which have been 

 made possible by gifts to this Memorial Station from joint friends of Theo- 

 dore Roosevelt and of wild life conservation. The initial aid for this plan 

 came from Mr. Howard H. Hays, President of the Yellowstone Park Camps 

 Company. These studies were made with the approval of Hon. Stephen T. 

 Mather, Director of the National Parks Service, and with the approval and 

 hearty cooperation of Mr. Horace M. Albright, Superintendent of the Yellow- 

 stone National P'ark, and of Mr. M. P. Skinner, Park Naturalist. Mr. War- 

 ren, a very competent field naturalist, contributed his services, and he was 

 aided by his volunteer assistant, Mr. Ellis L. Spackman, Jr. I gladly avail 

 myself of this opportunity, on behalf of the Roosevelt Wild Life Station, 

 to thank these men most heartily for their very substantial and generous 

 contributions. — The Director. 



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