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| The Aberdeen Bestiary folio f11r, the Beaver |
There is a list of ancient and medieval sources about the beaver at The Medieval Bestiary (not a comprehensive scholarly resource, and full of spelling errors, but it has some nice illustrations!).
Sunday, October 21, 2012
unico verbo mutavit in feram castorem...
There is a list of ancient and medieval sources about the beaver at The Medieval Bestiary (not a comprehensive scholarly resource, and full of spelling errors, but it has some nice illustrations!).
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For those of you that are potentially confused about this reference to beavers and their bizarre method of escape I thought I would pass on a little beaver knowledge as taught by the Canadian school system.
There are two types of beavers, those you have likely heard of the North American beaver (castor canadensis) and the Eurasian beaver (castor fiber) which is the one in question in our passage. The Eurasian beaver was hunted to near extinction during the Middle Ages due to its fur (also the downfall of the North American beaver) and its glands which were thought medicinal as has been stated. They lived primarily in Northern and Central Europe and Asia (they currently live in the Elba and Rhone rivers and Scandinavia, Poland, Netherlands and even the United Kingdom to give you an idea of their current habitat) though their natural range is unknown due to this past overhunting. Luckily for those in Eurasia they are being reintroduced and are doing well again throughout Europe including Scotland. And for us in North America we still can enjoy the millions of beavers and their tooth-marked trees and dams throughout the rivers, streams and lakes of the countries.
In conclusion, here is a video of a helpful beaver: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBAOsxUseZo
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