heidi08 Beavers October 16, 2026

YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE WHO MADE THE LIST…

heidi08 Beavers October 15, 2026

You know with a headline like this I couldn’t help reading all the way to the end.. I have to say it was still a surprise – especially from a BBC publication!

10 ecosystem killers: Destructive, brutal animals that destroy entire habitats

When they are in the wrong place these 10 animals wreck havoc on ecosystems across the globe — reshaping habitats, outcompeting native species, and pushing biodiversity to the brink.

Okay so it starts with the usual slugs and snakes and bull frogs. Then it gets interesting…

Beaver

This big, bucktoothed rodent is hailed for its ability to create habitats rather than destroy them. By felling trees and damming streams, it engineers wetland ecosystems that boost aquatic biodiversity and double as natural flood defences.

But you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. Valleys that once held bubbling streams, shady woodland and wildflower meadows become quite literally swamped by standing water. Trees die, dams block the passage of migratory fish, and species that require flowing water quietly disappear.

There you go. Trees die and migratory fish suffer unspeakable harm.

In the beaver’s native ranges, these trade-offs are part of long-established ecological processes. In places where beavers don’t belong, though, the downsides can be more striking. Beavers introduced from North to South America have destroyed swathes of native beech forest in Tierra del Fuego.

Whether you see the activities of these quintessential ecosystem engineers as creative or destructive depends on where you stand when the water starts to rise.

You know how as a kid your parents parents always lectured you about trouble your uncle got into before you were even born and warned you to never never do anything like that even though you couldn’t possibly and didn’t even drive a tractor and lived in a completely different country and it wasn’t even relevant?

Yeah, like that.

heidi08 Beavers October 14, 2026

DON’T BLAME THE BEAVER

heidi08 Beavers October 13, 2026

Sweden has been doing a remarkably good job in beaver-research lately. It took them a while but they seem to be firmly on the beaver-train now. Just just look at this great thesis from Lovisa Hökby, a PhD student at SLU.

Beaver’s role in the spread of tularemia investigated: No increased risk found

Beaver dams have sometimes been identified as potential hotspots for pathogens and the spread of animal-borne diseases such as tularemia. But a new thesis from SLU clears the Swedish beavers of these suspicions. Beaver ponds do not pose a greater risk of disease transmission than other wetlands.
– Beavers build dams and create wetlands that promote biodiversity, but these same environments can also favour the spread of zoonotic diseases. Having now investigated and assessed the risks, we can see that beavers in Sweden do not appear to cause an increased spread of infection, says Lovisa Hökby, a PhD student at SLU and the author of the thesis.

One of the pathogens she has examined is the tularemia bacterium. It can be transmitted to humans via mosquitoes, which are often abundant in stagnant water and ponds. Whilst working on her thesis, Lovisa Hökby collected water samples from both beaver dams and other wetlands in Sweden. The water samples, along with tissue and faeces from beavers, were then tested for a total of 21 different infectious agents, known as pathogens. These included the bacterium that can cause tularemia.

Well what did she find?

– The results show that pathogens occurred at similar prevalences in wetlands regardless of whether there were beavers there or not. Nor do the beavers themselves appear to play a central role as host animals. Most of the beavers we examined tested negative for all pathogens, says Lovisa Hökby.

There you go. Beavers and their ponds do not cause or carry Tularemia any worse than any other wetlands. And in fact since there is greater diversity at beaver ponds and lots of things that eat mosquito larva they may actually reduce its prevalence.

Click on the link at the headline to read the rest of the article or if you want to hear more or participate in her dissertation defense.

Thanks Lovisa.