Beaver Sighting In NY Arrouses Scientists

The first beaver sighting in New York in 200 years leaves bloggers scrambling to make the best "beaver sighting" joke:

Beavers grace New York City's official seal. But the industrious rodents have not been seen in the flesh here for as many as 200 years — until this week.

Biologists videotaped a beaver swimming up the Bronx River on Wednesday. Its twig-and-mud lodge had been spotted earlier on the river bank, but the tape confirmed the presence of the animal itself.

"It had to happen because beaver populations are expanding, and their habitats are shrinking," said Dietland Muller-Schwarze, a beaver expert at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. "We're probably going to see more of them in the future."

Now that there's one beaver in New York, do you think they're going to try and call it endangered and make its home "protected?" I wouldn't put it past them. Also notice that even though their population is exploding while their habitat shrinks, the shrinking habitat is still seen as a negative. Maybe all along all the beavers needed to propagate was less space - it sort of makes them feel cozy.

Meanwhile, in other news there have still been no reports of any beaver sightings in San Francisco.