In 1946, during Perón’s presidency, 25 pairs of beavers were introduced from Canada to populate Tierra del Fuego and develop a fur industry.
But Ushuaia is not their natural habitat and since they do not have natural predators such as bears or wolves, they live at ease and every year, the number of beavers doubles, reaching one hundred thousand specimens. The problem is that today beavers are considered a plague and are destroying hectares and hectares of forest.
To make their burrow, they make a dam near a river, thus flooding the area where they live and the trees in that area die of excess water. Between the “felling” of trees by beavers and the trees that die “drowned”, the landscape is changing.
The beavers’ “system” of work is to gnaw the tree trunk around a corner until they knock it down, then chop it up, use it for food and to build their dams. In addition, beavers’ teeth never stop growing so they must be using them all the time. If they don’t, the upper teeth could grow so long that they would reach all the way to the lower jaw, cutting through it.
The irony of all this is that a species was introduced in a habitat that was not its own, to get an economic return, creating a fur industry in the area, and the beaver, in order to survive in Ushuaia, has modified its fur and is no longer useful for fur production.
Where to see beavers in Ushuaia?
Inside the Tierra del Fuego National Park is the “beaver walk” to observe the system of dams that beavers have made on the creek that bears their name and the impact of this species.
Today beaver dams can be seen in many areas of the island.
In our excursion over Laguna Esmeralda you will be able to observe 2 staggered beaver dams.
If you find this species interesting and want to get to know it closely, we invite you to take our tours to the Ushuaia beaver dams with beaver watching on the shores of Lake Fagnano.
