4 ms·

I 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.

I 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 ago
It'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 ago
I 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 ago
  Test 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 ago
Or 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.
- mseebach 11y ago
  It didn't even have to be "scripted", it could simply be a test drop to check that the boxes open as expected and the beaver can survive the ordeal. Sounds like a pretty sensible thing to do.
  - albemuth 11y ago
    A stunned or half dead beaver woudln't have made the cut I think
- protomyth 11y ago
  Also, you don't want to show all the children what happens if the drop does not go according to plan.
  - Natsu 11y ago
    I seem to remember some old films that didn't mind showing animals dropping which went so far as to stage their deaths ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsFVzywPNEc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsFVzywPNEc
- jerf 11y ago
  Heck, just parachuting out of a plane is a post-Singularity event relative to a beaver!
gchadwick 11y ago
Along the other explanations maybe the camera man was happy to do the say 2-day hike out. But wasn't happy hiking in for 2 days carrying multiple beavers. I'm guessing they won't take kindly to being in a box for 2 days and would require feeding etc enroute. Plus it's a lot of extra weight So all in all hiking in with beavers could be a bit of a nightmare.
- avn2109 11y ago
  An experienced packer would take them in on a mule train, with the cameraman on horseback.
x0054 11y ago
It's one thing to hike with a camera on your back, even if back then they did weigh 50lb or so. It's a whole different thing to hike with a pack of 20 beavers. And I am sure they made multiple loads of 20 beavers, to kick start the population. I am not sure why helicopters weren't used though. Perhaps helicopters were still too expensive back then.
emehrkay 11y ago
How did the boxes open? Strictly on impact? How often was this done? Were the parachutes and boxes later cleaned up and reused? Did this curb the original issue, beaver over population? I would imagine that overpopulation means hundreds, if not, thousands of extra beavers. How much did this operation cost? Who thought of this? It seems like something a child would dream up as a solution. lots of questions from that clip. I wonder if anyone looked at it and thought "they're going to be confused in the future when they watch this. lol" ?
- trothamel 11y ago
  If I understand it correctly, the problem isn't really overpopulation, it was a mix of overpopulation and underpopulation. IIRC, beavers were trapped for their fur, which lead to their population being wiped out in some areas. At the same time, you had beavers in urban or suburban areas, where their dams can cause flooding and other problems. So what they did was trap the beavers that lived close enough to humans to cause problems, and airdropped them into places where they would benefit the environment (at least from our perspective). I assume back then - when fur coats were a thing - the idea of increasing the beaver population was considered an economic win.
  - hga 11y ago
    They're also ferociously devour trees; urban areas are less likely to be able to support that, e.g. see the penultimate paragraph of this section https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver#Urban_beavers_in_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver#Urban_beavers_in_United... in which a pair was reported to cut down $5 million in trees.
    - Johnny555 11y ago
      They also help preserve ecosystems even as they are destructive to human endeavors: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20141220/leave-it-to-beavers-california-joins-other-states-in-embracing-the-rodent http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/2014...

Splines 11y ago

It'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 ago

I 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 ago
Test 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 ago

Or 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.

mseebach 11y ago
It didn't even have to be "scripted", it could simply be a test drop to check that the boxes open as expected and the beaver can survive the ordeal. Sounds like a pretty sensible thing to do.
- albemuth 11y ago
  A stunned or half dead beaver woudln't have made the cut I think
protomyth 11y ago
Also, you don't want to show all the children what happens if the drop does not go according to plan.
- Natsu 11y ago
  I seem to remember some old films that didn't mind showing animals dropping which went so far as to stage their deaths ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsFVzywPNEc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsFVzywPNEc
jerf 11y ago
Heck, just parachuting out of a plane is a post-Singularity event relative to a beaver!

gchadwick 11y ago

Along the other explanations maybe the camera man was happy to do the say 2-day hike out. But wasn't happy hiking in for 2 days carrying multiple beavers. I'm guessing they won't take kindly to being in a box for 2 days and would require feeding etc enroute. Plus it's a lot of extra weight So all in all hiking in with beavers could be a bit of a nightmare.

avn2109 11y ago
An experienced packer would take them in on a mule train, with the cameraman on horseback.

x0054 11y ago

It's one thing to hike with a camera on your back, even if back then they did weigh 50lb or so. It's a whole different thing to hike with a pack of 20 beavers. And I am sure they made multiple loads of 20 beavers, to kick start the population. I am not sure why helicopters weren't used though. Perhaps helicopters were still too expensive back then.

emehrkay 11y ago

How did the boxes open? Strictly on impact? How often was this done? Were the parachutes and boxes later cleaned up and reused? Did this curb the original issue, beaver over population? I would imagine that overpopulation means hundreds, if not, thousands of extra beavers. How much did this operation cost? Who thought of this? It seems like something a child would dream up as a solution. lots of questions from that clip. I wonder if anyone looked at it and thought "they're going to be confused in the future when they watch this. lol" ?

trothamel 11y ago
If I understand it correctly, the problem isn't really overpopulation, it was a mix of overpopulation and underpopulation. IIRC, beavers were trapped for their fur, which lead to their population being wiped out in some areas. At the same time, you had beavers in urban or suburban areas, where their dams can cause flooding and other problems. So what they did was trap the beavers that lived close enough to humans to cause problems, and airdropped them into places where they would benefit the environment (at least from our perspective). I assume back then - when fur coats were a thing - the idea of increasing the beaver population was considered an economic win.
- hga 11y ago
  They're also ferociously devour trees; urban areas are less likely to be able to support that, e.g. see the penultimate paragraph of this section https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver#Urban_beavers_in_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaver#Urban_beavers_in_United... in which a pair was reported to cut down $5 million in trees.
  - Johnny555 11y ago
    They also help preserve ecosystems even as they are destructive to human endeavors: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20141220/leave-it-to-beavers-california-joins-other-states-in-embracing-the-rodent http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/2014...