A very short travel day, just 70 miles from Perce to Forillon National Park. Created in 1970, Forillon lies at the tip of the Gaspe Peninsula. It has sea, cliff and mountain scenery, ten different rock formations, several seabird colonies and visiting whales.
After we set up in the campground, we headed for the Visitor Center where we learned that, because it is after September 1, there is only one program per day, held in the evening, and bilingual on Sundays and Thursdays. The other evenings it is in French only. That is one of the things that Tony and Cathy told us yesterday. Quebec is officially a French speaking province. That is why many of the official signs are in French only.
So feeling lucky that tonight is Sunday night, at 5 pm, we arrived at the gathering place for a program called "The beaver's turf".
On the drive out of Perce, on the other side of the bay, Frederick was able to take a picture of Bonaventure Island and Perce Rock.
This is at the Visitor's Center, looking southwest. We didn't have time to do much exploring, but we intend to return. Nice tall lighthouse.
This is looking northeast at the Visitor's Center. These mountains are the end of the Appalachian chain.
Alain is the Park Interpreter who spent about thirty minutes in the parking lot talking about the beaver. In ancient times, there were beavers that were twice the size of a human. They disappeared about 10,000 years ago, about the time of the last glaciation. In the 16th century, European explorers were impressed by the number of beavers in North America. By 1830, more than 500,000 beaver per year were being trapped for European use. By the early 1900s, the beaver was almost extinct and the government put a stop to beaver trapping.
The beaver in the largest rodent in North America. Only the Capybara, in South America, is larger. They are specially adapted for a life in the water. They have valves that close off their eyes, ears and noses when they are under water. Their eyes also have a membrane that functions like goggles so they can see underwater. They have furry lips behind their teeth so that they can gnaw on wood underwater without swallowing water.
There is no fur on their tail;it is scaly, a remnant of their ancestors, the reptiles. They use it for stability when they are on dry land and are gnawing on trees. In the water it works like a rudder. There is fat on the inside of the tail that provides nourishment in the winter. And, it is used as an alarm system - one slap of the tail on the water sends all the beavers scurrying.
Their front feet are very much like our hands, with five fingers and a lot of dexterity. The hind paws are webbed. The second claw on the hind leg is split. A gland under their tail excretes oil that they comb into their fur using this split claw to make their fur waterproof.
Like other rodents, their teeth grow continuously. The enamel is the brown part and the dentine is the white. The dentine wears away and the bottom teeth become sharper.
After talking about the beaver, Alain led us on a 1 km hike to a tree cutting station and on to a beaver pond. The tree cutting station was a small grove of deciduous trees that the beaver will gnaw down for building and for food. Above, in the foreground, is a dam that the beaver have build in a semi circle around an old culvert that carried water under an abandoned road.
As a result of the dam, this pond was created.
Beyond the damn is the beaver lodge. A lodge is about 10 feet high and typically has two rooms, one for sleeping and the other for eating. During the winter months the beaver cover the lodge with mud to keep out predators and spend the entire winter in the lodge. They will sleep for 36 hours and then wake up to eat their winter stores in the lodge. They are monogamous, mate in January or February and have 3 -4 kits in April or May.
There was a group of about 20 of us that went out to the beaver pond. We were told to be very quiet so as not to frighten the beaver. Their eyesight is poor but their hearing is sharp. While we were at the pond's edge a beaver returned to the lodge, - see him in the center of the picture above? - carrying a branch that he will take into the lodge to store for the winter.
Beaver can fell a 6" diameter hard-wood tree in 10 minutes. They gnaw in a circle and don't know which way a tree will fall. Alain said that it is amusing to watch them fell a tree and run around in a circle trying to get out of the way of a falling tree.
A we were leaving the pond (it was beginning to get dark), we saw a beaver on the other side of the pond. I know it is hard to see, but in the picture above, just center right, is the dark shape of the beaver. Alain said there are currently 46 active beaver ponds in the park that supports about 300 beaver. In 1999 there were 76 lodges, but the moose population has tripled in recent years and they eat the same leaves and twigs that the beaver eat.
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