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> The reason they build dams is to create deep water that gives them protection from predators. How do they know the reasons beavers build dams? Did these repo
by zugi 2y ago
> The reason they build dams is to create deep water that gives them protection from predators.
How do they know the reasons beavers build dams? Did these reporters fact-check this by asking the beavers?
- 0xbadcafebee 2y agoThey wanted an outdoor pool but didn't want to pay contractors
- ncallaway 2y agoBecause we can make a reasonable inference based on the consequences of their actions
- whatshisface 2y agoBeavers build dams to corner the stick and bark supply while driving up the price.
- FloorEgg 2y agoThis is what I think every time I see a headline claiming a company stock, or the market as a whole, went up or down because of a single reason. Did the people writing the article ask all the people who bought or sold, or decided not to buy or sell, the stock(s)? Of course not. Correlation does not mean causation. Naked beaver logic.
- tantalor 2y agoThe reason beavers build dams is because that's what beavers do.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Qwertious 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_purpose_of_a_system_is_what_it_does https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_purpose_of_a_system_is_wha...
- cperciva 2y agoHow do they know the reasons beavers build dams? Obviously it's a shorthand, but the interesting thing here is that different biologists come up with different implicit reasons. To an evolutionary biologist, the reason for a behaviour is how it grants an evolutionary advantage, so to them the reason for building dams is to create deep water which provides protection from predation. But behavioural biologists look at what triggers particular behaviours, and we actually know this one thanks to experiments: Beavers hate the sound of running water. If you set up a speaker and have it play running water sounds, beavers will pile sticks on top of it! There's no grand dam-building plan; just mindlessly placing sticks wherever the noise is coming from.
- whatshisface 2y agoI can see how that is a mechanism for fixing leaks, but not for building a dam from scratch.
- cperciva 2y agoThe noisiest spot in the absence of a dam is going to be where water is moving the fastest -- which is the spot with the smallest flow cross section, which is also the best place to drop sticks to impede the flow.
- brailsafe 2y agoya but why do they hate the sound of running water
- 2y ago
- Terr_ 2y agoIf you really want to get reductive about it, beavers build dams to stop a certain kind of water-flowing noise. It's instinctive (not learned) and they'll try even when the it's coming from a speaker and the floor is dry concrete. Some types of anti-beaver-damn measures work by eliminating the sounds and vibrations. https://gsas.harvard.edu/news/dammed-if-they-do https://gsas.harvard.edu/news/dammed-if-they-do
- egberts1 2y agoDepoly the noise-cancellation PA systems!
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