Never underestimate the power of the web! Skip the library for now and start
with perusing the web. In just a few minutes, I've gleaned some of the BEST
of the BEST websites for those of you game to spend a few moments expanding
your knowledge. Just point and click on these hyperlinks (in blue) when you
are 'online'.


<A
HREF="http://www.oit.itd.umich.edu/projects/adw2k/accounts/aplodontia/a._rufa"
>Aplodontia rufa (Mountain Beaver): Narrative
</A>
An excellent and informative site from the University of Michigan.
excerpt: "Food Habits: Mountain beavers are herbivorous animals; their diet
ranges from sword fern to bracken fern and other toxic ferns. The diet of the
mountain beaver differs depending on sex, age, and season. When mountain
beavers find an area that has good vegetation, they are sure to protect it.
While they are eating, they squat and emit hard and soft pellets which they
catch in their mouths. The hard pellets are put into a pit next to the
vegetation while the soft pellets are reingested (Carraway, 1993)."

<A
HREF="http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/ric/Pubs/teBioDiv/beaver/mbwpml20.htm">Aplodont
ia - British Columbia Biodiversity
</A>
excerpt: "Other common names: Sewellel (Banfield 1974; Whitaker 1988),
mountain boomer, boomer, whistler, mountain rat (Borrecco and Anderson 1980 -
as cited in Cafferata 1992), gehalis, ground bear, or giant mole (Carraway
and Verts 1993)."

This is an excellent and informative site produced by the BC Resources
Inventory Committee and includes extensive reference citations for further
reading. The hyperlink reference to the Aplodontia is just one page in an
otherwise hefty resource access site to many aspects of BC terrestrial
ecosystems and biodiversity. Our neighbors to the North really have a knack
for the thorough knock your socks off detail when it comes to the creation of
detail, websites, publications (e.g. "The Birds of British Columbia vol 1-4",
etc. etc....), etc. etc...... It's got to be those long winters or maybe
it's something in the water :-))

<A
HREF="http://www.calacademy.org/calwild/archives/fall97/html/beavers.htm">Cali
fornia Wild Mountain Beavers
</A>
An excellent and informative 'must see' site including a photograph.
excerpt: "Most people don't even know that the secretive, nocturnal creatures
exist. Yet, these one- to two-pound vegetarians are living fossils; their
ancient lineage has been traced back at least 40 million years."

<A HREF="http://www.inreach.com/infowright/mtbeaver.html">Mountain Beaver
(Aplodontia rufa)
</A>
Another superb website from California including link to nice photo.
excerpt: "WHAT MAKES MOUNTAIN BEAVER SO INTERESTING?
Mountain beaver are the most primitive species of living rodents, sort of a
living fossil. While their range has decreased from that of the fossil
record--probably because of geological and climactic changes primarily--very
little appears to have changed morphologically. Mountain beaver were used in
early studies of kidney function because their primitive kidneys lack Loops
of Henle and are unable to concentrate urine effectively. Other organ systems
have not been well studied. ..... Mountain beaver are not pet material.
They are crotchety, vicious animals and have never been domesticated. When
disturbed, they can secrete a thick material from their eyes which has been
misinterpreted as tears. ..... The largest flea in the world (up to 1/8 of
an inch long) is found only in mountain beaver burrows. The coevolution of
the two organisms has never been investigated but, given the ancient lineage
of mountain beaver, may provide some interesting insights."

That's just a starter folks. Curious, I wasn't having much luck coming up
with much splashy and flashy not to mention as interesting and informative
being generated by the States of Washington or Oregon. There's probably
something out there but I just haven't discovered it yet in only the few
minutes I just spent poking around.
Happy home work :-) --Richard

---------------------------------------------------------
Richard Rowlett (Pterodroma at aol.com)
Bellevue (Eastgate), WA