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US film of parachuting beavers found after 65 years
- verandaguy 11y agoIf this was supposed to be a solution to a beaver overpopulation problem, I'm really interested in how the government planned on scaling this to an effective beaver volume -- since the video only shows two or three beavers being dropped from a fairly small GA taildragger. It'd also be interesting to know if this could have applications as a discreet bioagent delivery vector (either as a weapon, or as something less destructive).
- HarryHirsch 11y agoAd fontes! http://www.jstor.org/stable/3796322?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents http://www.jstor.org/stable/3796322?seq=1#page_scan_tab_cont...
- mavhc 11y agohttp://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/airdrop-STUDY-beaver.pdf http://www.martinezbeavers.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/...
- hga 11y agoIt was probably more useful as a method to get some of the surplus beavers into remote areas that needed them. Following the Guardian link to the original source (http://boisestatepublicradio.org/post/remember-parachuting-beavers-story-now-theres-video http://boisestatepublicradio.org/post/remember-parachuting-b...): Fish and Game is transplanting beavers now in the Owyhee desert, where years of watershed use has denuded the vegetation. The beavers can go in to help restore the land. [Statewide fur bearer manager for Fish and Game Steve] Nadeau says beavers make good ponds that can hold water all year, and that’s important to the landscape.
- jerf 11y agoYou may find this interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb
- jdp23 11y agoAn earlier article in the Boise paper gives context: 76 beavers were dropped. http://boisestatepublicradio.org/post/parachuting-beavers-idahos-wilderness-yes-it-really-happened http://boisestatepublicradio.org/post/parachuting-beavers-id...
- martinni 11y agoI'm not sure I understand how the box is supposed to magically open once it lands..
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoSuspended from parachute connected to cord holding the box shut. Once parachute no longer pulling on cord (on ground), box easily can be pushed open.
- organsnyder 11y agoPerhaps by the cameraman that filmed them leaving the box?
- usrusr 11y agoBeavers in wooden boxes, what could possibly go wrong! In fact, dozens of them on an airplane, this should be turned into a prequel of the Airport film franchise: "Airport '50: Beavers on a Plane" On a more serious note, the ropes keeping the boxes closed seem to be tensioned by the chutes, so the boxes were probably expected to open on impact. Note how the rope also passes through the inside of the box, so they may have hoped for a fallback via the mechanism of a terrified, trapped beaver gnawing on stuff for stress relief. I suspect that most of people involved knew more about the intricacies of beaver containment than about those of airdrops, so I'm more retrospectively concerned about the beavers' safe landing than about their subsequent escape from the return capsule.
- zellyn 11y agoYouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APLz2bTprMA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APLz2bTprMA
- jackgavigan 11y agoRelevant section starts from ~7:00 and includes the magical words "..the beaver DropBox."
- jerf 11y agoBRB; preparing YC application for the underserved market of North American rodentia. (The market is huge! And think of all the pivot opportunities....)
- duskwuff 11y agoLog storage for everyone!
- pcunite 11y agoHere is that section: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APLz2bTprMA&feature=youtu.be&t=7m30s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APLz2bTprMA&feature=youtu.be...
- Ecco 11y agoImagine how those beavers must have showed off afterwards: "Dude, I'm a paratrooper."
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- bernardom 11y agoIt's the beaver equivalent of alien abduction. "They took me up there! I swear!"
- 6stringmerc 11y agoCertainly does give them someting to chew on for the rest of their lives!
- vessenes 11y agoI had a hard time understanding how and why you'd drop beavers from a plane when a camera man could clearly get to the same spot, to, you know, make the film. Then I thought that the camera man could have parachuted in, too. But, then I thought that either meant he then hiked out, in which case, why not hike in with beavers, and save the plane time? Or, perhaps, the plane could land on a lake, but in which case, why not land with beavers? I may just be pre-caffeine, but I'm not sure I understand the point here.
- Splines 11y agoIt's possible that the on-land shot was staged and taken pre-flight, or maybe it was a test run to show what the landing would look like. Alternately, hiking in with 20 angry beavers is probably a PITA.
- Bedon292 11y agoI am wondering the same thing, but perhaps they did test drops to see if the idea worked and the camera man just filmed those?
- epalmer 11y agoTest or staged shot is likely. That was common, and probably still is. Here is an interesting collection from the Met. http://aperture.org/blog/grand-illusions-staged-photography-met-collection/ http://aperture.org/blog/grand-illusions-staged-photography-...
- ChuckMcM 11y agoOr you film the landed beaver back where you started an a "scripted" event. Bascially drop one in the original area where a camera is set up, let it film the decent and the beaver getting out. Then you film dropping beavers from the plane as they head down. The viewer can extrapolate that to the rest of the boxes in the back country. Most, if not all, of these films were informational but did not have the full events filmed for technical reasons. Today of course you could just strap a phone to the beaver box and have it broadcast live on YouTube or something, which would have been pretty futuristic for the beavers.
- Splines 11y ago> US film of parachuting beavers found after 65 years (it's OK, they survived) Those are some old beavers.
- nathancahill 11y agoAh, the ol' HN beaver-aroo.
- mizchief2 11y agoVery disappointed by the actual content of the video.
- ChrisArchitect 11y agomeanwhile in Canada, back to the drawing board for the US invasion plans
- jsprogrammer 11y ago>Now it has been digitized and released by the Idaho Historical Society and the department of fish and game on YouTube. But we will not link you to it. Because...this is a news website...
- Htsthbjig 11y agoIt is clear that they are testing the minimum height you can drop someone from a parachute in the same way that the excuse of scientific knowledge of the moon was used for recording Soviet Russia signals through moon reflection. They don't show you the cuts under the minimum height, but in the video you see a shoot of the chute almost not having enough time to open. Dropping people at this height means time in the air is minimum and radar does not detect the plane, but is incredibly dangerous.
- kevinchen 11y ago> the excuse of scientific knowledge of the moon was used for recording Soviet Russia signals through moon reflection. In case anyone else is curious about that bit: http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB479/ http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB479/
- johnm1019 11y agoMy Dad is a physician and was in/worked for the Air Force in the 60's and he worked in a lab where they were dropping monkeys strapped into seats on vertical rails. It was to test ejection seats and human/animal limits. Pretty gruesome honestly.
- ars 11y ago> It is clear that they are testing the minimum height you can drop someone from a parachute in the same way Are you joking? You can do that much easier with a simple weight. You don't need a beaver.
- delinka 11y agoSounds to me like they're relocating beavers.
- TallGuyShort 11y agoIs anyone else disappointed to have not seen beavers with little backpacks, helmets and goggles running out the back of a C-130?
- TranquilMarmot 11y agoSomething similar is done to control fish populations- often they will "air stock" a waterbody by flying over it with a plane and dropping a bunch of fish from hundreds of feet in the air. The fish (mostly) survive unharmed.