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<a href="../200809/12811.html">next Very well said, Ron. Billy > 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. >
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