Beaver Safari

Beavers IMAX is a great fix for a beaver jones. Unfortunately it’s only 30 minutes long, but the photography is incredible. Many beaver behaviors are featured, though inside-the-lodge scene is short and uninvolved, as it was impossible to get an IMAX camera and all the necessary lighting into a beaver lodge (in fact, the scene was filmed in a studio replica of a beaver lodge!). And though there is a scene where a beave gets chased by a bear (and escapes), there are no instances of tail-slapping… The film does show the beavers wrestling in the moonlight, which it sort of insinuates is a mating dance (maybe it is, though I’m not convinced). Some viewers complained that the beavers were tame (it’s true, they’re hand-reared “actors” rather than wild specimens), but I say that’s even cooler! What it means is that you can hear their vocalizations (wild beavers don’t speak as freely since the noise can attract bears and other predators). Beavers have weird voices!

Anyhow, this movie aptly displays and glorifies the true majesty of the North American Beaver. It came out in 1986, so I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of it earlier. Oh how I especially would have loved it in my younger beaver phase. Though I was 14 in ‘86 so maybe I was over beavers by then to a certain degree. Or was I? In any case, can you imagine how awesome this film would be in an IMAX theater?

UPDATE
This film has inspired us to go on our own beaver safari! In the wilds of beaver country, Oregon!!! Week after labor day… Looking forward to the beautiful hot springs up there too. Cougar Springs (true name Terwilliger) is what I call the most beautiful perfect spring I’ve ever seen. Rough stone tubs cascading down a forested hillside, getting progressively cooler, opposite a beautiful reservoir. I read one complaint that the Oregon springs are too crowded, and that southern Idaho has a nice cluster of springs that see less traffic. So, maybe we’ll go to Idaho. It’s in about two weeks so we have to decide pretty soon… Are there Beavers out in Idaho (probably).