Tallinn driver's dashcam picks up nocturnal beaver road crossing
A Tallinn driver's dashcam captured the rare sight of a beaver, usually a fairly elusive creature, calmly crossing a busy highway after dark, Maaleht reported.
The video, taken on March 29, can be viewed through the Maaleht article and shows an adult beaver crossing the road, seemingly unbothered by the presence of nearby traffic, prompting the video's poster to inquire if the nearby Lake Ülemiste is getting dammed for summer.
The location, at an intersection where drivers can turn onto the Vana Tartu maantee, lies smack bang between Lake Ülemiste and Pühamäe järv, a much smaller body of water and very close to the main Tartu highway, and the nearby Tallinn Airport.
Residents of the neighborhood, Peetri, say they have also seen the animals before, including those which opted to cross the busy road, often after dark.
Despite the continued decline in beaver numbers, the Environmental Agency (Keskkonnaagentuur) says that the overall condition of the population remains relatively healthy, adding their hunting is not encouraged away from areas where they impact negatively on human activity.
A little over 20 years ago, the beaver population in Estonia was as high as 20,000 animals and up to 12,000 dams were counted, though the population has fallen since then, at least on the mainland – on the islands numbers have in fact risen.
4,221 beavers were hunted in 2024, a drop of around 350 on the previous year, and a 20-year low.
The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) is a distinct species from the more well-known North American beaver (Castor canadensis), and has in recent decades been making a recovery Europe-wide.
The species is monogamous and territorial, often holding on to the same territory after the loss of a mate, and it feeds on woody and herbaceous plants growing along shorelines, as well as aquatic vegetation: Preferred food sources are willow and aspen, as well as birch, while alder is often used in dam and lodge construction, though not for food.
They bring benefits to the local ecology despite the apparent nuisance damming could bring – in fact with larger rivers with higher flow volumes, where the water remains within the river channel after damming, their effect is seen as positive.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: Maaleht
