Trees kill beavers

[snopes]

Comment: Is it true that the number one killer of beavers are trees? The
actual tree the beaver was chewing on falling down and killing the beaver.

[A Turtle Named Mack]

Nah, their bark is worse than their bite.

Actually this has got to be nonsense. Beavers that don't know enough to avoid falling trees would be rapidly eliminated from the gene pool. Besides, when a tree falls the pivot point, where the beaver chewed through, is the slowest moving part of the tree. It's further out toward the crown that it has enough speed to hurt.

[charlie23]

I would seriously doubt that many beavers are killed by trees. They gnaw them down by working in circles around the trunk while standing on their hind legs, which leaves a conical shaped section 2-3 feet above the ground. When the core gets small enough for the tree to fall, they simply drop back to all fours and it breaks off well above them. The trees also take a bit of time to break off so they can certainly get out of the way if they want to. (I spent 5 years living next to a beaver pond, and although I never actually saw a tree falling I also never saw a beaver crushed by a tree).
I would imagine that the number one killer of beavers would be people, with disease and other predators coming in second.

[rangerdog]

[Jay Tea]

This from ecology.info

Beaver are sometimes found dead under fallen trees (Hitchcock 1954; Scotter and Scotter 1989). These apparently rare, accidental deaths may be the result of beaver misjudging where trees they are cutting will fall, or of one beaver cutting down a tree that kills another beaver (Scotter and Scotter 1989). Still another possibility is that a beaver was killed by a natural treefall of a partly cut tree.

[Seraphina]

I am not surprised tree would kill beavers. I have in my life cut down many smallish trees on our property. Mostly they fell the way i intended, but I had couple of accidents, like when the tree hit another tree near by and instead just keep falling it jumped back at me. Fortunately the bottom of the trunk was only about 6" in diameter so I ended up with just very nasty bruising. I doubt if beaver would think of such things as sudden gusts of wind or what the tree may bounce off.

[Dr. Dave]

Along those lines, I wonder (just out of curiosity) what the rate of injury or death is for professional (human) tree-cutters versus that for beavers.

(Granted, some of the human injuries involve power tools and or the person who is 50 feet above the ground trimming limbs.)

[Base Ten]

Originally Posted by Dr. Dave

Along those lines, I wonder (just out of curiosity) what the rate of injury or death is for professional (human) tree-cutters versus that for beavers.

(Granted, some of the human injuries involve power tools and or the person who is 50 feet above the ground trimming limbs.)

Leaping from tree to tree!
As they float down the mighty rivers
of British Columbia!
With my best girl by my side!
The Larch!
The Pine!
The Giant Redwood tree!
The Sequoia!
The Little Whopping Rule Tree!
We'd sing! Sing! Sing!

[charlie23]

well, it also stands to reason that some beavers are dumber than others...

[Seraphina]

Originally Posted by charlie23

well, it also stands to reason that some beavers are dumber than others...

Just as humans i guess, one tree feller came to trim some trees on my property climbed up to the first big branch (some 4-5 m high up), sat on it and started cutting it between himself and the tree trunk :o . Only stopped when i threw a rock at him.