Audrey Tournay
Feb 07, 2009
Some years ago an artist was visiting the sanctuary - she was interested in wildlife painting.
So, under the conviction that no creature in all the world is more interesting than a beaver (I know, I’m biased) I took her back to the pond and called a beaver - and it came.
I picked it up so she could see it clearly. But she was horrified. “It has orange teeth! That would never sell!â€
Nothing I could do about it - beavers have orange teeth.
However, the teeth do not hang out in front. I get somewhat disgusted at all the children’s stuffed beavers which are offered to us to sell -- cuddly, cute, with big teeth, either white or (occasionally) orange, hanging out of the mouth.
When we objected - the answer of one salesman was typical, “But people wouldn’t recognize them as a beaver - not without those teeth.â€
Let them look at the tail.
I have raised dozens of beavers - looked after them from the time they are newly born, until they are set free to live their own lives in the wild - and I have literally hundreds of photos of them - and have yet to find a beaver, unless badly injured ( in a trap or by a car) whose teeth are bucked out in front.
Actually - please note the photo - beavers have a rather attractive smile.
We have so many strange beliefs about various animals. Porcupines do not throw their quills.
Skunks do not spray at every opportunity. (As I have said before - I have raised over 4,000 skunks and been sprayed exactly eight times - when I did something aggressive).
Raccoons are not deliberately wicked, they simply take advantage of what is often our stupidity.
Look at that beaver smile again - look carefully and you will see a glimmer of the teeth behind the slightly raised lip. This is Denzid, trying to figure out why I am getting so near to his face with a camera ... some things he does not understand.
One other tooth virtue I have experienced with beavers in all the over 35 years I have been working with them, I have never been bitten by those big, orange, well-hidden teeth.
A beaver expresses his dislike or distrust by simply either totally ignoring you, or walking away.
What I’m not certain about is how the beaver judges that quality, or lack thereof, in a human being. Sometimes I introduce Denzid to a friend, and he is courteous - other times he simply takes a look and then, with some dignity, turns his back and walks away.
However - spend a minute looking at that smile and see why he doesn’t need dangling orange teeth. You’d recognize that smile any time!
(Audrey Tournay is the executive director of the Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary and a regular contributor to the Beacon Star).
