John Schinnerer
1 min readDec 13, 2021

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You've got a picture of a bald eagle, and the caption says "Canada’s national symbol is a beaver, which pretty much illustrates the difference."

I have to guess what you mean by that. But here's one perspective on that difference:

Bald eagles are primarily scavengers, not particularly noble, and somewhat lazy. Their brain volume is only about 1 cubic inch - "Young bald eagles have been known to make mistakes, such as attacking objects like plastic bottles floating on or just below the surface of the water. Bald eagles will locate and catch dead fish much more rapidly and efficiently than live fish, because dead fish float with their light underside up, making them easier to see." (Source: https://journeynorth.org/tm/eagle/facts_characteristics.html - and of course I am cherry-picking a bit for effect...).

Beavers are extremely industrious critters who before being nearly wiped out by ignorant humans, brilliantly engineered water flows, wetlands, and groundwater infiltration all across north America. There was far less erosion, far fewer floods, and higher infiltration and reserves of groundwater before the European invaders massacred the beavers.

So yeah - quite a difference.

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John Schinnerer
John Schinnerer

Written by John Schinnerer

A generalist in a hyper-specialized society. "How we do what we do is who we are becoming." - Humberto Maturana

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