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Index of Subjects
Index of Subjects ------=_Part_16843_14082938.1222131171994 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Hello, The descriptions provided thus far strongly suggest beaver. Muskrats, as suggested earlier, typically eat herbaceous marsh plants (unlike beavers and porcupine, they also eat animal protein) as opposed to woody plants, rarely leaving marshes for purposes of feeding. Porcupines would likely not hesitate to eat rose bushes, but unlike the case described, they make a rather ragged cut, not the clean cut described here. As for the size of the animal, adult beaver teeth average about 6 mm. The 3.75 mm suggests a sub adult animal. Beavers in their second summer often wander away from their family group (although they may return to spend the winter in their natal den). This would fit well with the size of the gnawing marks observed and the fact that the location where this feeding occurred does not appear to harbour a permanent beaver population. My 2 cents worth. Ron Arsenault Memramcook, N.B. 2008/9/22 <bdigout@seaside.ns.ca> > Hi Steve, > I'm not sure about spacing of teeth, but normally you can estimate the > size of the beaver by the height of cuts on the trees, or in this case > the alders. Beavers often cut trees while propped up on their hind > feet, using their tail for balance. If the cuts are close to two feet > high or more, you have a large beaver. I hope that helps. > Billy > > > Hi again Billy, or anyone else, > > As an afterthought on a recent reply from me about this, could an > > experienced > > woodsman tell the approximate size of the beast from the spacing of its > > gnaw > > marks? Somebody must have looked into this in the past. > > > > One of the diagonally cut alder stems had 8 fairly parallel gnaw marks. > > These > > were not fully regular (each was not the exact same width), but they were > > spaced on average 3.75 millimeters apart (a bit over 1/8 inch, more like > > 5/64" > > if you prefer inches). > > Would that be a little beaver or a big sucker? > > Steve, Halifax > > > > > > Quoting bdigout@seaside.ns.ca: > >> Earlier, I sent a reply indicating beaver... If Chocolate Lake was > >> in > >> Cape Breton, then beaver would have been the only choice; since we > >> have no porcupines. > >> Because only muskrat and beaver were mentioned, was there any > >> indication the culprit came from the water, or was there no visible > >> sign of directionality? > >> Billy > > > > > > > -- Ronald G. Arsenault Memramcook, N.B. ------=_Part_16843_14082938.1222131171994 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline <div dir="ltr"><div>Hello,</div> <div> </div> <div>The descriptions provided thus far strongly suggest beaver. Muskrats, as suggested earlier, typically eat herbaceous marsh plants (unlike beavers and porcupine, they also eat animal protein) as opposed to woody plants, rarely leaving marshes for purposes of feeding.</div> <div> </div> <div>Porcupines would likely not hesitate to eat rose bushes, but unlike the case described, they make a rather ragged cut, not the clean cut described here.</div> <div> </div> <div>As for the size of the animal, adult beaver teeth average about 6 mm. The 3.75 mm suggests a sub adult animal. Beavers in their second summer often wander away from their family group (although they may return to spend the winter in their natal den). This would fit well with the size of the gnawing marks observed and the fact that the location where this feeding occurred does not appear to harbour a permanent beaver population.</div> <div> </div> <div>My 2 cents worth.</div> <div> </div> <div>Ron Arsenault</div> <div>Memramcook, N.B.<br><br></div> <div class="gmail_quote">2008/9/22 <span dir="ltr"><bdigout@seaside.ns.ca></span><br> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">Hi Steve,<br> I'm not sure about spacing of teeth, but normally you can estimate the<br>size of the beaver by the height of cuts on the trees, or in this case<br> the alders. Beavers often cut trees while propped up on their hind<br>feet, using their tail for balance. If the cuts are close to two feet<br>high or more, you have a large beaver. I hope that helps.<br>Billy<br> <div> <div></div> <div class="Wj3C7c"><br> > Hi again Billy, or anyone else,<br>> As an afterthought on a recent reply from me about this, could an<br>> experienced<br>> woodsman tell the approximate size of the beast from the spacing of its<br> > gnaw<br>> marks? Somebody must have looked into this in the past.<br>><br>> One of the diagonally cut alder stems had 8 fairly parallel gnaw marks.<br>> These<br>> were not fully regular (each was not the exact same width), but they were<br> > spaced on average 3.75 millimeters apart (a bit over 1/8 inch, more like<br>> 5/64"<br>> if you prefer inches).<br>> Would that be a little beaver or a big sucker?<br>> Steve, Halifax<br>><br>><br> > Quoting bdigout@seaside.ns.ca:<br>>> Earlier, I sent a reply indicating beaver... If Chocolate Lake was<br>>> in<br>>> Cape Breton, then beaver would have been the only choice; since we<br> >> have no porcupines.<br>>> Because only muskrat and beaver were mentioned, was there any<br>>> indication the culprit came from the water, or was there no visible<br>>> sign of directionality?<br> >> Billy<br>><br>><br><br><br></div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Ronald G. Arsenault<br>Memramcook, N.B.<br></div> ------=_Part_16843_14082938.1222131171994--