Nettie the beaver takes up residence at CALM
| Friday, Nov 20 2009 10:29 AM
Last Updated Friday, Nov 20 2009 10:48 AM
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Nettie the beaver
A little more than a month ago, the California Living Museum welcomed new resident Francis the badger. On Friday, CALM became home to Nettie the beaver.
Nettie is a 2-year-old, North American beaver (castor canadensis). She shares an enclosure, outside the Reptile House, with CALM's American white pelican, herring gull and Canadian goose.
"Nettie has a sweet disposition, as she was hand-raised by another facility," said zoo Manager Lana Fain. "She may have a slight brain injury affecting her vision and movement a bit. She enjoys the company of humans and loves yams!"
Beavers are nature's "engineers," building large water habitat for wide varieties of animal life. They often come in conflict with humans in agricultural areas where water flow may be inhibited or trees damaged. Beavers are well known for their tails, which they use as a rudder to build dams and slap the water surface to warn family of danger.
Beavers are the largest rodent in California and second largest in the world. They once numbered about 60 million but now about 8 million exist.
Don Richardson, curator of animals, said, "Beavers directly from the wild, such as the "Riverlakes Beavers," are often more difficult to acclimate, but Nettie is appropriate for our enclosure because she was hand-raised."
Non-profit CALM has for 26 years provided residence for injured and abandoned animals that are no longer able to live on their own in the wild. For information, call 872-2256 or visit the Web site, www.calmzoo.org.
- Kern County Superintendent of Schools press release
