A01=Rachel Poliquin
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animals
architecture
Author_Rachel Poliquin
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beavers
biological study
biology
building material
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=WNCF
contemporary art
COP=United Kingdom
creatures
cultural history
dams
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depictions
ecologist
ecology
environmental politics
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evolution
evolutionary changes
fur
historical context
hunting
Language_English
lodges
lore
musk
mythology
natural world
nature
north america
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Price_€10 to €20
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representation
rodent
semiaquatic rodents
SN=Animal
softlaunch
species
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Product details
- ISBN 9781780234236
- Dimensions: 135 x 190mm
- Publication Date: 01 May 2015
- Publisher: Reaktion Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
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With their unique scaly tail, chainsaw teeth, powerful scent and astonishing architectural prowess, beavers are unlike any other creature in the world. Not surprisingly, the beaver has played a fascinating role in human history. Beaver explores the lives and characteristics of these exceptional creatures, from their soft fur to their architecture and their ecological transformations, revealing beavers to be survivors capable of withstanding ice ages, major droughts and predators, except one: humans.
Widely hunted for their fur, beavers were a driving force behind the colonization of North America and remain Canada’s national symbol today. Castoreum, the pungent musk secreted by beavers, was long used in medicine and has been an ingredient in perfumery and food production. From depictions of beavers in the fables of Aesop and Native American mythology to contemporary environmental politics, Rachel Poliquin investigates the facts and fictions of beaver chain gangs, beaver-flavoured ice cream and South America’s ever-growing beaver population.
This beautifully illustrated book, filled with the strange history and improbable tales of the beaver, will delight all readers.
Rachel Poliquin is a writer and curator. She is the author of The Breathless Zoo: Taxidermy and the Cultures of Longing (2012) and has curated natural history exhibits for the Museum of Vancouver and the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia. She lives in Vancouver, Canada.
