The beaver is Canadian
THE BEAVER exemplifies what it means to be Canadian. Rachel Poliquin puts it this way:
“Humpbacked and portly, with an earnest and honest charm, beavers epitomize the Canadian spirit of unpretentiousness, integrity, and industriousness (Canada’s History magazine, Aug/Sept, 2017).”
The beaver has not always been regarded as exceptionally hard-working. Canada’s Indigenous people viewed them as skilled builders, healers and earth-makers but not any more hard-working than coyotes or porcupines.
Eurasian beavers were hunted to near extinction. Ancient physicians regarded the beaver’s smelly scent organs as a potent medicine. Beavers would give off the smell to repel attackers, a bit like a skunk. Mistaking the castor sacs that held the scent for testicles, early Europeans thought the beavers bit off their testicles and shed their fur to escape capture. The Greek fabulist Aesop had this to say: