Beaver Dam Visible From Space 286
ygslash writes "The
Hoover Dam
no longer holds the title of the world's widest dam.
Satellite photos of northern Alberta, Canada, show that several families
of beavers have apparently
joined forces
to build a dam 850 meters
wide, more than twice as wide as the Hoover Dam."
Bigger is Better (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bigger is Better (Score:5, Funny)
I don't really think wideness is a quality to be encouraged in beaver circles. Hopefully at least they've kept it trim.
Re:Bigger is Better (Score:4, Funny)
Everything's bigger up here. Texas is just where Canadian's try things out before commissioning the full-size model...
Re:Bigger is Better (Score:5, Funny)
850 meters??? (Score:5, Informative)
And if anyone cares, here's an obligatory Google map of the beaver dam [google.com] and here's one for Three Gorges Dam [google.com].
Re:850 meters??? (Score:4, Informative)
Which is still half 500m shy of the Zhiguli Hydroelectric Station.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuybyshev_Hydroelectric_Station [wikipedia.org]
Re:850 meters??? (Score:5, Informative)
Whoa there buddy; easy on the capitals there.
The Egyptians put up one 3830m wide (the Aswan High Dam) in the 1960's.
It's Fox News; do you want to fact check The Onion as well?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:850 meters??? (Score:5, Funny)
Chinese Beaver Dams (Score:3, Funny)
Leave this one to the Chinese.
I hear beaver dams in China go "sideways"...
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The incredible woodland construction is a staggering 2,790 feet in length -- more than half a mile long.
The OP is the one who has confused length and width. And in every case, claiming that Hoover Dam is the largest dam in the world by any measure is just plain wrong.
Re:Bigger is Better (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Bigger is Better (Score:5, Funny)
...let alone where Canada resides . . .
Give me a break! Everyone knows that Canada bought a house in Minnesota so that she could get quality health care on-demand. Whether or not she's technically a "resident" is up for debate...
Re: (Score:3)
It is thought that several beaver families joined forces to create the massive dam, containing thousands of trees, and took many months to complete it.
Point 1. News is not supposed to include only speculation of events to support the main title. Investigate. That's why you're supposed to be better than a blog.
Point 2. Really, FOX? Fox News. On slashdot, about a beaver dam. WTF?
Point 3. It took beavers only a matter of months to do this when we take years and they still break. Why aren't we seeing a story about remote controlled animals with tools working en mass to build projects like this. Now that's a story that should be on Slashdot.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Not sure if you were going for ironic or just stupid, but you hit both, so kudos.
Re:Bigger is Better (Score:5, Informative)
Funny that beaver dams never break. You would think that since they're made out of untreated wood, that the water would rot them at some random point that beavers can't even foresee....
I don't know if you were joking, but beaver dams break all the time. Usually they're not huge breaches but little leaks, and not usually due to wood rotting but due to mud washing out and sticks coming loose. The little guys are constantly repairing and mending the dams. They have OCD and can't stand the sound of running water -- that's their trigger to fix the dam.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Over here in west-Canada aka Alaska
We like to joke that if you divide Alaska in half and make each half a state
Texas would still be the third largest state
Isn't that great !!
-- sig test
Alaska, pissing off Texas since 1959
Re:Bigger is Better (Score:4, Funny)
Would those states be "North Alaska" and "Even-Further-North Alaska"?
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Some of us need all the available space and more.
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Curse you and your unusually flooded rivers, widening what would otherwise be some rather pleasantly enclosed riverbanks..
Not Widest (Score:3, Informative)
....And you Canadians always give us Yanks crap about thinking bigger is better....sheesh.
Perhaps they were trying to emulate this [wikipedia.org] which is an 18km long dam also in Northern Alberta. All they need now is to fill their pond with toxic sludge....
850 meters? One word for you.... (Score:3, Funny)
DAMN!
Re:850 meters? One word for you.... (Score:5, Funny)
obligatory
STATE OF MICHIGAN
Reply to: GRAND RAPIDS DISTRICT OFFICE STATE OFFICE BUILDING 6TH FLOOR
350 OTTAWA NW GRAND RAPIDS MI 49503-2341
JOHN ENGLER, Governor
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
HOLLISTER BUILDING, PO BOX 30473, LANSING MI 48909-7973
INTERNET: http://www.deq.state.mi/ [state.mi]
RUSSELL J. HARDING, Director
December 17, 1997
CERTIFIED
Mr. Ryan DeVries 2088 Dagget Pierson, MI 49339
Dear Mr. DeVries:
SUBJECT: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023-1 T11N, R10W, Sec. 20, Montcalm County
It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity on the above referenced parcel of property. You have been certified as the legal landowner and/or contractor who did the following unauthorized activity:
Construction and maintenance of two wood debris dams across the outlet stream of Spring Pond. A permit must be issued prior to the start of this type of activity. A review of the Department's files show that no permits have been issued.
Therefore, the Department has determined that this activity is in violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Michigan Compiled Laws annotated. The Department has been informed that one or both of the dams partially failed during a recent rain event, causing debris dams and flooding at downstream locations. We find that dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted. The Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all unauthorized activities at this location, and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by removing all wood and brush forming the dams from the strewn channel. All restoration work shall be completed no later than January 31, 1998. Please notify this office when the restoration has been completed so that a follow-up site inspection may be scheduled by our staff. Failure to comply with this request, or any further unauthorized activity on the site, may result in this case being referred for elevated enforcement action. We anticipate and would appreciate your full cooperation in this matter.
Please feel free to contact me at this office if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
David L. Price
District Representative Land and Water Management Division
Dear Mr. Price:
Re: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023; T11N, R10W, Sec 20; Montcalm County
Your certified letter dated 12/17/97 has been handed to me to respond to. You sent out a great deal of carbon copies to a lot of people, but you neglected to include their addresses. You will, therefore, have to send them a copy of my response.
First of all, Mr. Ryan DeVries is not the legal landowner and/or contractor at 2088 Dagget, Pierson, Michigan -- I am the legal owner and a couple of beavers are in the (State unauthorized) process of constructing and maintaining two wood "debris" dams across the outlet stream of my Spring Pond. While I did not pay for, nor authorize, their dam project, I think they would be highly offended you call their skillful use of natural building materials "debris." I would like to challenge you to attempt to emulate their dam project any dam time and/or any dam place you choose. I believe I can safely state there is no dam way you could ever match their dam skills, their dam resourcefulness, their dam ingenuity, their dam persistence, their dam determination and/or their dam work ethic.
As to your dam request the beavers first must fill out a dam permit prior to the start of this type of dam activity, my first dam question to you is: are you trying to discriminate against my Spring Pond Beavers or do you require all dam beavers throughout this State to conform to said dam request? If you are not discriminating against these particular beavers, please send me completed copies of all those other applicable beaver dam permits. Perhaps we will
Re:850 meters? One word for you.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
"rule number 1 of slashdot: ANY thread can be twisted into a bash of microsoft. no exceptions."
Well, if you insist.
This is another case of egregious anti-competitive collusion - the furry animal (but not quite sweaty) version of Microsoft. Nuke'em from the orbit.
Check your assumptions (Score:5, Funny)
I like beavers (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I like beavers (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I like beavers (Score:5, Insightful)
Humans are special.
We make steel, make building from concrete and glass. We've been to the moon and sent device outside our solars system.
We can build damns, can beavers build space ships?
Human beings kick ass.
Although the original poster was being a little slow in the head. I mean, ALL creatures modify their environment. You have to in order to reproduce and eat.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
We make tools that make other tools.
Unfortunately we make too many tools whose only appropriate purpose is incarceration.
Re:I like beavers (Score:5, Informative)
So? Spiders shit webs that are stronger than steel.
Re: (Score:2)
It's not like they're the only ones either. Birds, ants, spiders, gofers, and a whole lot more build structures to live more comfortably in. Humans need to stop thinking they are so special.
Well I figure if you can consider any kind of animal "special"*, then you certainly have to acknowledge that humans are special too.
Lots of animals dig burrows or construct nests, but few modify their environment to the extent of the beaver, and obviously humans are orders of magnitude beyond that. Opposable thumbs and
Re: (Score:2)
Eventually there was no other species on earth quite like homo sapien
Fixed that for ya...
Re: (Score:2)
Correct.
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2010/04/09/human.fossil.discovery.evidence.new.homo.species [esciencenews.com]
and
Once We Were Not Alone, Ian Tattersall, Scientific American, January 2000, pp. 56-62
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Humans need to stop thinking they are so special.
Posted the (presumably) human using his opposable thumbs a communications method completely beyond the understanding of any other animal on earth.
Re: (Score:2)
On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog..
They really are the only ones. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Many animals modify their environment, but pretty much only Homo sapiens is capable of modifying the environment in ways that are impossible to achieve through the use of our natural physiology. The Hoover Dam could not have been built by hand. We exceed the animals by the capacity to create tools, and to use those tools to create even more complex tools, and on and on.
There are animals, primates mostly, that have been observed using inanimate objects as tools. That's true tool use, but they do not make imp
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Actually animals DO modify their tools too. SOME chimpazees are known to fix the end of their twigs to make them better tools for catching termites. Also, some corvids (don't remember the species) in the wild will shape the twigs to make hooks to get the grups from holes in the branches. When in the lab, the birds would find the steel wire left around and also make hooks, sometimes to achieve tasks more complex than just pulling a grup out of a hole. I don't remember the details, just that it involved tr
Re: (Score:2)
Look at the termite mounds [wikipedia.org] (also, just below, tunnels and how they are used), then look at a termite...and tell me now that part of your justification which mentions Hoover Dam is convincing.
Re:I like beavers (Score:4, Funny)
Humans need to stop thinking they are so damn special.
There, fixed it for you.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Putting aside the obvious jokes for a second...
Nonsense, I'm sure nobody here was thinking about Amy Winehouse's contraception.
Re: (Score:2)
Beavers are cool - but they can also be a nuisance. My brother in law has been paid by landowners to clear beaver from various creeks and streams. All legal, and in accordance with state wildlife regulations, mind you. The fur sells well, and the meat grows strong, healthy dogs. I never asked him why he didn't eat the meat himself. I guess it doesn't taste very good. But, yeah, beavers are cool. They do have an odor that I don't like very much. Not a bad odor, just a musky scent that I don't like.
Re: (Score:2)
I also like working for the Department of Redundancy Dept like I do. I like liking.... like...
Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest? (Score:5, Informative)
The Hoover Dam isn't even a very wide dam (1234 ft)... It's known for being tall.
Re:Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest? (Score:5, Funny)
The original article was from Fox News - I'm just amazed they realised it was a damn, and not a giant vacuum cleaner given the quality of their fact checking.
Re: (Score:2)
... and my spelling. I guess I am taking lessons from Fox.
Dam, not damn.
Re:Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest? (Score:5, Funny)
The original article was from Fox News - I'm just amazed they realised it was a damn, and not a giant vacuum cleaner given the quality of their fact checking.
Coming up next, are Saddam's weapons of mass destruction hidden in the beaver sadDAM?!?
Experts say no, we say maybe.
Re:Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest? (Score:5, Informative)
The original article was from Fox News - I'm just amazed they realised it was a damn, and not a giant vacuum cleaner given the quality of their fact checking.
It is, IMO, even more damning than that -- it's a wire feed article that originated with The Sun, England's answer to The New York Post. The closest they get to journalism is printing slightly fewer Bigfoot sightings than The Weekly World News.
Having no actual investigative reporters and blindly publishing things from credible news feeds is one thing (the death-knell of traditional media's role in journalism, for example). Doing the same with a tabloid as your source is even worse.
Re:Was the Hoover Dam EVER the widest? (Score:5, Insightful)
The common factor is that it's all Murdoch media- Fox, The Sun, The New York Post etc.
Yes, it's scary as fuck that the most succesful news corporation world wide is the one that's most full of shit globally.
Hell, they even look possibly set to be getting their own way and putting David Cameron into power in the UK today, fingers crossed things don't quite go entirely Rupert's way and we get a hung parliament now.
News Corporation papers are unfortunately responsible for more than just getting beaver stories wrong. Honestly, the best thing that could happen to the Western world would be the bankruptcy of Murdoch and the fall of all his papers etc. Him getting hit by a large truck would be nice too, because ultimately his love of spreading bullshit is responsible for more misery and problems globally through the spread of lies, ignorance, and bad government than some of the worlds worst dictators in history. If you look at the influence Fox had on getting Bush elected for example (even if you don't believe Fox's call was what gave him the election, all pre-election slandering of opposition makes a differences) then you can really link him to the fact the US went into Iraq in the first place even though it had nothing to do with 9/11. The actions of his news outlets have real, serious, knock on effects that can set off chains of events that cause tens, possibly hundreds of thousands to die.
Of course, Murdoch isn't unique, others are as bad, he's just the king of evil in this respect. It's quite sad really. What makes it worse is that his offspring are just as bad and are taking over the reigns from him, so it's not as if we'll get rid of him that way either.
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
That's amazing. I've got the same combination on my luggage.
Wow! (Score:2)
Those beavers have been busy!
Was the Hoover Dam ever the worlds widest? (Score:5, Informative)
"The Hoover Dam no longer holds the title of the world's widest dam.
Well, given the fact that the Kuybyshev Hydroelectric Station which was built in the 50's is almost 3000m wide, it's been a LONG time since the Hoover Dam was the worlds widest. Given the fact that the Hoover Dam is very narrow for a its overall size, I'd be pretty surprised if it was ever the worlds widest.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah, I always thought Hoover was impressive for it's height, not width. And WP says it was the highest dam in the US when built (and is now the 2nd highest). Dunno about worldwide, but really, I don't care exactly, it's a tall dam in any case. Let's see some stupid beaver build a damn over 700 ft tall!
Re:Was the Hoover Dam ever the worlds widest? (Score:4, Funny)
Yeah. Plus it's called a dental dam, not a beaver dam regardless of how you use it. Who proofs these articles anyhow?
Re: (Score:2)
and here you go ruining the fun with logic and facts ;)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, the are several dams wider than Hoover.
The one of the widest that I know of is the Hirakud Dam in India is 26 km wide also build in the 1950s
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Unaided? (Score:5, Insightful)
And who lives downstream of this wonder? (Score:5, Funny)
If it ever cuts loose there will be an epic flood. Did the Beaver Inspectors ever get a look at it? After all Size isn't everything. How many logs went into that thing anyway? Was it checked for strength, flexibility under loads, ability to hold back before gushing? This could be pretty important for anyone below it. Canada's National Honour could be at stake!
Re: (Score:2)
You joke, but reality hews closer to satire all the time.
TRUE: The state of Michigan threatened local beavers with a $10,000 per day fine for failing to remove their dam. [snopes.com]
Re:And who lives downstream of this wonder? (Score:4, Funny)
Stan: It's MY fault. I broke the dam. ...Stanley...you?
Cartman: Aw, man...
Sharon Marsh:
Man: No. Don't you see what this child is saying? We can't spend all our energy placing blame when something bad happens. He's saying...we all broke the dam.
Stan: No. I broke the dam.
Woman: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: No. I broke the dam.
Woman: And I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Cartman: Hehe...I broke the dam!
Man: I broke the dam.
Woman: I broke the dam.
Stan: [trying to insist] I broke the dam. I ran a boat into the dam and I broke it.
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: No! I broke the fucking dam!
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: I literally broke the dam!
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: On a boat! That wasn't mine!
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: I kept it secret for two days!
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: The boat caught on fire and it exploded!
Man: I broke the dam.
Man: I broke the dam.
Stan: Aw, fuck it!
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
If it ever cuts loose there will be an epic flood. Did the Beaver Inspectors ever get a look at it? After all Size isn't everything. How many logs went into that thing anyway? Was it checked for strength, flexibility under loads, ability to hold back before gushing? This could be pretty important for anyone below it. Canada's National Honour could be at stake!
I'm sure the beavers appreciate your input. Let me assure you, extensive thought [theonion.com] goes into dam design.
FOX news? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:FOX news? (Score:5, Funny)
This is interesting (Score:5, Funny)
This is interesting, because this is a story about a huge beaver dyke that can be seen from space.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:This is interesting (Score:5, Funny)
Just put a finger in it. You'll know the difference soon enough.
Re: (Score:2)
As opposed to...?
Re: (Score:2)
And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a "beaver dam" commonly called a "diaphragm"?
And people have wondered (Score:2)
Visible from space? (Score:2)
My house is so HUGE.... (Score:2)
My car is too... (Score:4, Informative)
My car is also visible from space, via Google Map's "satellite view".
Does that make my 1995 Chevy special?
Re: (Score:2)
From _space_? Really? Last time I checked, most of the higher resolution images on Google maps were from aircraft, not satellites.
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I believe this is the satellite Google maps used in my area:
http://www.geoeye.com/CorpSite/products/imagery-sources/Default.aspx#geoeye1 [geoeye.com]
It has a resolution of 1-1.5 feet (the color is separately collected from a 4-5 foot resolution sensor).
Lt. Frank Drebin Says... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Lt. Frank Drebin Says... (Score:5, Funny)
The biggest tam is Three Gorges Dam (Score:2, Informative)
WE ARE...! (Score:2, Informative)
I bet Beaver Stadium [wikipedia.org] can be seen from space too...
Okay everyone: Google Maps Link! (Score:5, Informative)
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=58.270908,+-112.251972+(World's+Biggest+Beaver+Dam)&sll=58.270908,-112.15071&sspn=1.027008,2.469177&g=58.270908,+-112.150710&ie=UTF8&ll=58.271526,-112.253623&spn=0.016047,0.038581&t=h&z=15 [google.com]
Cheers!
"Visible from space" ain't what it used to be. (Score:2)
Not for me, at least, since Google Maps will show my car and trash cans from space, too.
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Google Maps will show my car and trash cans from space
Really? Your car and trash cans are from space?
How did you manage that?
Yeah, I just have a question. (Score:3, Funny)
Um, is this a God dam?
Fox thinks pretty highly of those beavers (Score:5, Informative)
I liked the last paragraph of the article "It is thought that several beaver families joined forces to create the massive dam, containing thousands of trees, and took many months to complete it."
Compare that to the article from the CBC "Biologists estimate the dam would have taken at least 20 years to build. It is visible in NASA satellite imagery from 1990."
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Better Pictures (Score:4, Informative)
Better article link. (Score:2)
Canadian beavers: showing the rest of the world how it's done for millions of years.
Seriously (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously everybody, nature's fucking awesome.
Obligatory (Score:2)
I grew up in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, seriously.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=beaver+dam,+wi&sll=44.688115,-93.183227&sspn=0.009885,0.01929&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Beaver+Dam,+Dodge,+Wisconsin&t=h&z=13 [google.com]
Time to go chasing beaver (Score:2)
This news post would not be complete without a reference to chasing beaver, and the related Molson Canadian commercial.
So long guys, I'm off chasing beaver (I know, not very common for the Slashdot crowd)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y09YOkVmGg0 [youtube.com]
This story is 2 years old! (Score:4, Informative)
I coulda sworn I saw this on Slashdot some time ago, but in any case, this "news" is at least two years old...
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2008/04/14/beaver-park.html [www.cbc.ca]
Re: (Score:2)
The beavers are taking over! First it's dams..then it'll be nuclear warheads..
Dammed beavers...
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Woah. These Beavers can build complex structures AND drive?
They drive ottermobiles.