Okay. I have searching the internet all day to figure out what I saw this past Saturday. I wish I had taken a picture, but I was just trying to figure out what the little buddy was doing in the middle of the road. I live in Plainfield, Illinois. I was driving and in the middle of the road (next to a corn field and Family Video) there was a beaver-like mammal right there. I was at a light, so I rolled down the window and literally said “Hey, are you alright little buddy?” He looked at me with his beaver like eyes/face and turned around and starting walking slowly the other way. That is when I saw his tail. Not at all beaver-like. It was long and hairy, but sort of flat like a ribbon, and didn’t look stiff. I have no idea what I saw. Maybe he was a muskrat with a hairy tail, or a Nutria…but they are extinct in Illinois.

Hmmmmm…the mystery. I hope I see him again.

You should ask WBLM radio in Portland, Maine to link to your site. The generally leave off the “W” when doing station identifications and just use “BLM”.

Anyway, my name is Skip and I saw this really tame groundhog in Fort Halifax park in Winslow ME on July 25, 2007. I was using a zoom lens, and was about 30 feet away from him. I was surprised to be able to get so close, since he would have had to cross about 100 feet of open lawn to get to some sort of cover. Here he is, at a life-threatening distance of about 30′ with no crop at 400mm. These guys are faster than greased lightning and can cover small distances like that in the blink of an eye, so I was pretty nervous. Luckily, he had fed well, and the desire to slash human throats was suppressed enough to allow this encounter with no direct confrontation. I stood my ground when he flashed his razor-sharp teeth and growled at me. I don’t expect to always be this lucky.

Thanks Skip for the captivating story and great photos. Let’s hope this exciting sighting is a preview of things to come for BLM Season 2008.

From my back porch sometimes I can see as many as 3 BLMs at once, scattered across my neighbors’ yards. The City is to BLMs as Shenandoah National Park is to deer. The City is a place where BLMs can live without fear. No danger from hunters, no danger from off leash dogs. CHO is a BLM center. Charlottesville is the Number One City for Beaver Like Mammals!This silver-back in the yard of #### Woolen Mills RD (a.k.a. Market Street).   

Thanks so much Bill! I hope you are right that BLMs are safe in Charlottesville. I am always so concerned when I see them grazing by the side of the road. I do wish we could hire BLM crossing guards. Do you think Charlottesville would consider changing the official city slogan to “CHO is a BLM center” or “Charlottesville is the Number One City for Beaver Like Mammals!”? I think both those phrases have a very nice ring. Also, this is an awesome photo of a very noble-looking BLM:

And the BLM’s closeup: 

My name is Miss Butler. One day I was looking out my sister’s patio in Grandview, Missouri (that’s right off Jackson and Blue Ridge Blvd) and I saw this BLM and was able to get pics of it. It came up from the water out back of her house and was in her garden eating collard greens like he’d planted them himself! Each time we’d open the patio door - he would run away, but return in about 15 minutes to eat more greens and sweet potato vines… he would pick a leaf of greens and stick the whole thing down his throat! It was amazing to watch! These pictures were shot through the sliding glass door in August 2007. Thank you.

I would like to extend a sincere thanks to Miss Butler for submitting our first Missouri-based sighting! And for proving that BLMs have good taste in food, mmm.

My name is Laura and I live very close to Sperry Marine in Charlottesville. Often, on my trek home, I drive by Sperry’s huge lawn on 29 and lots of times, I see one or even two of the cute critters doing what appears to be grass munching and scrounging.

I am grateful for your web site because now I know what a beaver looks like and don’t have to ask, “Is that a beaver?!” It is evident that the critter speaking with Abe Lincoln on a sleep aid TV commercial is indeed, a beaver (this commercial cracks me up).

Thanks again Saskia! Next month, one of our discussion questions should be “What was unique about the setting of the book and how did it enhance or take away from the story? And, further more, why have no other book club members submitted any sightings to beaverlikemammals.com?”

We definitely have a groundhog family living waaaay out back under the tall trees behind that tall tree that fell last year. This really doesn’t surprise me because I had “spied” a rather large creature earlier this summer. Anyway, as you know, I don’t sleep well and am up at rather strange hours. Early Sunday I saw this contigent of them moving about and was quite excited. The little ones are very sweet. I think they will be very safe back there - it’s secluded and Lord know’s there is plenty of natural food.

1. The first is just a hole, I know, but I saw the BLM (a groundhog) go into it. I was sitting in a friend’s backyard at a bbq in Charlottesville, Virginia when the sighting happened. I immediately rushed over to where the BLM was spotted and got down on the ground and crawled around under the neighbors back porch hoping to see it again. I didn’t. But here is a picture of its hole.

2. A a statue of a BLM that I saw in Portland, Oregon. Portland is known as “beaver nation” because the Oregon state athletic mascot is…the beaver. I’m not sure if this BLM statue has anything to do with that or not, but it was very pretty and definitely beaver-like.

3. Lastly, here is a wild duck that I saw in a marsh in Charleston, South Carolina. At first glance I think ducks are probably not beaver-like, but they do swim and thrive in similar kinds of habitats and, like beavers, have a waterproof skin covering. Plus, this duck was really nice looking.

A cell phone photo of frighteningly large beavers (statutes), taken on my recent visit to Portland Or., as promised. How proud I am to be from the Beaver State. I think these beavers evidence that I am not the only proud Beaver Stater, since these beautiful likenesses are right in the heart of downtown.