The largest beaver dam on earth is close to 2,800 feet long.

850 meters, well over half a mile, and nearly eight football fields across.

Twice the length of the Hoover Dam. Yes, a historic feat of human architecture and engineering is merely half the length of a structure built by hand, a structure built by rodents.

This dam is deep in northern Alberta, Canada. The beavers have built their incredible structure in an area where nobody can harm them.

It is almost completely inaccessible to humans.

The land is inhospitable enough that it isn't worth it for trappers and hunters to make the trek.

They are safe from harm, but not safe from discovery.

They have built a structure so large it is visible from space.

Satellite imagery discovered this dam, and soon humans made the journey on airplane.

Soon after, explorer Rob Mark decided to attempt to be the first

known human visitor to this beaver colony. His trek took nine days on foot. The mosquitoes were so

loud, they sounded like helicopters. The last mile of his journey took five

hours. He was hit by a vicious thunderstorm. Visibility was non-existent. The bogland was so deep

in places he had to check each movement, sometimes sinking up to his waist due to miscalculation.

A single misplaced step could have resulted in a gruesome death trapped in the bog.

It was as if all of nature had unified to halt his journey.

But Mark finally made it to the dam, and when he arrived

and stood on the construction, the only solid ground for miles, he looked around him and saw only a

single fever, loudly slapping his tail on the water to warn his comrades that an alien had arrived.

We know now from satellite imagery that the dam has been there for decades, and it has likely supported multiple generations of beavers connecting and interlocking their colonies dams

over time. The oldest beaver dams can likely last for hundreds of years.

Though Mark was an alien to this beaver, he was also a kindred spirit.

...