They started out just friends but sometimes that the best way to begin a relationship that goes a lifetime. We find these two busy beavers at the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation which is located in central Canada.
The story actually starts back in June of 2016 when an injured female beaver was found at a Calgary gold course. Her tail had been hurt, and she was only 4-6 weeks old. She had wandered off away from her home and had to be taken into the Wildlife Conservation.
She thrived at the conservation and eventually her tail was healed. She then was able to learn how to do all the fun things like beavers do like find food and swim.
There was only one thing wrong though. Holly Duvall who is the director of the conservation talked to The Dodo and said:
“She was going through the rehab process, doing really well, but she was by herself. We didn’t have any other beavers in care at the time.”
They thought she would be all alone, especially till she reached the age of two when beavers usually establish their territory. But in June 2017 another beaver needed a rescue. Someone was walking by a storm drain and saw beaver with a deep incision on his back. They thought it had fought with another animal.
Was the male beaver was healed, they moved him in with the other female beaver. They were in different enclosures but they could see each other. And then the most surprising thing happened…
Duvall said:
“Beavers don’t normally get along together in captivity unless they’re related, so we never had any hopes that we could do an introduction, but they obviously wanted that. When our staff of volunteers went out to care for them later in the day, they found the two beavers walking up and down the fence line together.”
The two said hi through the fence and even touched paws. I have a feeling the volunteers that saw it all unfold let out a collective, “Awww.”
They tried to get closer to each other, to smell each other out, but they couldn’t physically do it. They eventually were let out of their enclosures and they were inseparable after!
Duvall went on to say:
“They were very comfortable around each other from the get-go. We were prepared to step in immediately if there was any signs of aggression, but that never came up. They were swimming right away together, they were grooming next to each other, and sometimes [grooming] one another, [and] they were eating together.”
Eventually the two were let go together also. They ventured into the wild and the volunteers weren’t sure if they would stick together. He is a year older and sometimes when they’ve done this before the male ditches the female when they go and look for their territory.
But don’t worry! They won’t have to worry ever again. Duvall concluded:
“We’ve been getting reports quite frequently from the area we released them that they’re still together. It’s been almost three weeks, and that’s a great indicator that they’ll stay together.”
