Beavers could be humans' biggest ally, if we let them
5/5/202621 min
Beavers are having a moment, thanks to the new Pixar movie “Hoppers.” Amid some body-swapping shenanigans, the film is about humans coexisting with wildlife—particularly oversized rodents capable of reworking landscapes in profound ways.
The beaver science consultant on “Hoppers,” Emily Fairfax, joins Flora to talk about beavers’ brilliant, chaotic landscape engineering, and how the creatures show up in the movie. Then, reporter Zac Ziegler walks Flora through a successful beaver-centric engineering project in Oregon.
Guests:
Emily Fairfax is an assistant professor of geography at the University of Minnesota. She was a science consultant for the Pixar movie “Hoppers.”
Zac Ziegler is a reporter at KLCC in Eugene, Oregon.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsFlora Lichtman· Host0:00
[upbeat music] Hey, it's Flora, and you are listening to Science Friday. Beavers are having a moment.
Emily Fairfax· Guest0:09
[upbeat music] Hey, what's your name, beaver?
Zach Ziegler0:11
Uh, Babel.
Emily Fairfax· Guest0:12
You wanna live here, you better learn pond rules.
Zach Ziegler0:15
What are pond rules?
Emily Fairfax· Guest0:16
[beaver hisses] [laughs] Oh, I am clearin' the rest of the day.
Flora Lichtman· Host0:18
The new Pixar movie Hoppers is about a girl who, thanks to some far-out technology, is turned into a beaver. Goofiness ensues, of course, but it's really a movie about humans coexisting with wildlife, particularly oversized rodents capable of reworking landscapes in profound ways. So we wanted to ask, what's the status of our IRL relationship with beavers? It's complicated, and we might wanna give it some thought, because according to my next guest, beavers could help humanity out if we let them. Emily Fairfax has spent her career studying these animals, and she's also the beaver science consultant on the movie Hoppers. She's based at the University of Minnesota. Emily, welcome back.
Emily Fairfax· Guest1:01
Thank you. I'm super happy to be here.
Flora Lichtman· Host1:03
You've called beavers a geologic force. What do you mean by that?
Emily Fairfax· Guest1:08
Beavers are a geologic force because the scale they operate at, both in space and time, is enormous. Beavers are all over the North American continent. One beaver family is changing and shaping two kilometers of a stream, huge territories, and they've been doing it for seven and a half million years. They've been modifying things