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Our featured beaver documentary of the week, embedded from YouTube.
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Beaver facts
- In the Hudson's Bay Company's fur trade, a made beaver — one prime, fully prepared pelt — was the unit of account. Kettles, blankets and guns were all priced in made beaver.
- In the 1850s the company even struck brass tokens denominated in made beaver.
- Beaver underfur has tiny barbs that lock together when pressed, which is why it made the densest, most waterproof felt for hats.
- When silk top hats replaced beaver felt in the mid-1800s, demand for pelts collapsed, giving beaver populations room to recover.
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Where the world's largest beaver dam sits, in Wood Buffalo National Park, Alberta.
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Canada's official account on the world's largest beaver dam.
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