Have You Seen This? Don't yell 'timber' just yet

This video shows an old-growth tree, likely in the countryside of Poland, that has been gnawed nearly through by a beaver.

This video shows an old-growth tree, likely in the countryside of Poland, that has been gnawed nearly through by a beaver. (YouTube)


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OUTSIDE — There's a reason the saying "busy as a beaver" exists.

As one of the few mammals that modify their habitat, beavers always have something to do when building and repairing their dams. Chew, drag, build, repair — these are common activities for these large, semiaquatic rodents.

Despite their chonky bodies and waddle walks, beavers are skilled and efficient in their work. The average beaver can chew through a 6-inch tree in 15 minutes, and a single beaver can chew down hundreds of trees in a year.

Even with this industrious behavior, sometimes a beaver just can't get all the work done. Leaving a partially chewed trunk means the tree has a weakness that could be a death trap to any other creature that happens by when gravity and a gust of wind inevitably win and the tree goes boom.

It's not a surprising scenario in theory, but when you see an extreme example, it is stunning.

This video shows an old-growth tree, likely in the countryside of Poland, that has been gnawed nearly through by a beaver. At first it's not completely surprising that the tree hasn't toppled — what's left still seems fairly substantial.

Then we get a good look at the other side of the tree, and that side of the trunk is completely hollow from what looks like a lightning strike. The only thing that seems to be holding up this tree is a few woody sinews that are livin' on a prayer.

Sometimes the wonder of nature happens when nature doesn't quite take its course.

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Have You Seen This?
Martha Ostergar is a writer who delights in the ridiculous that the internet serves up, which means she's more than grateful that she gets to cruise the web for amazing videos to write about.

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