Saw this on my line today. A LM sized beaver didn't move the stakes and other beaver(s) covered up the body with sticks. No bites apparent.

A couple of years back we had a thread going on this subject. This is maybe the third time in memory that I've seen such a thing. It makes me wonder if mama covered up her dead young'un? A LM size beaver is this season's kit in Oregon.

Wow ! I'll be.

RIP

You may be anthropomorphizing.
More likely an instinctual reaction to prevent attracting predators.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am pretty sure I can't pronounce that let alone spell it.

Attributing human characteristics to nonhuman. ie animals have the same emotions, etc. as humans.

Most likely just a handy building materials nobody quits that colony. LOL

Prayers sent.

All those sticks were under water when I set that trap yesterday. I can come up with no reason a beaver would pull all those up and place them over the kit. It is not a spot to build anything.

Wish I had video of what transpired.

Never seen that. Seen them stuffed in a dam

Usually a beaver that gets hung up like that in our beaver heavy areas will get ripped up pretty bad by other beavers. I'm just wondering if mama beaver didn't want her offspring to get cut up by other beavers. Kind of protecting her young. Hope that's not anthromorphizing Average Joe. LOL

30 years of trapping beavers full time I've never seen that.

If I remember correctly, I have read where elephants exhibit a sort of ritual when one dies.

Never saw that before.

Carl, when they buried that beaver and the other two you have seen, did they deposit castoreum on them?

I wonder if they could be making them into some type of scent post.

Keith

That's a new one to me, I've never seen that before.

The only time I have seen something similar, is where I made a set on a dam opening using a 330 and caught a beaver....the other beaver built on top of the dead one to fill the hole back up.

I too have seen this.
Once I caught an old female in a tunnel as I was setting up the colony 4 well used holes in a dike bank. I heard the commotion and went over to investigate. Got there and saw a large beaver on its last breath, when suddenly I heard thunderous pounding on the 2 inch ice. It was a cold quiet morning. When 10 feet from me another big beaver pounded his head through the ice, slowly moved up and stared me down for maybe 30 seconds before silently sliding back under. That look was chilling. Took 4 more young ones, never caught him.

I would add that where I experienced a burial of a young beaver, I never caught the old ones on that colony. This was under ice.

Not beavers but have had muskrats cover up their dead buddies in weedy runs, then continue to walk right over them in that run.

Prayers sent