I'm John Bashar, Professor Lila Phillip of the College of Holy Cross is here.

Her new book is Beaverland, a one weird rodent made America.

We've now left Americana history, and we come to Woodstock, Connecticut, where the professor lives, and she begins her tale of

beaver exploration and explanation by bonding with a beaver in a local pond down pulpit

rock road, which is not paved, according to this report. I don't think it has been. But this is a part of Connecticut that enjoys

beavers. And, Professor, it's charming the way you observe the beaver. They're nocturnal creatures.

So you had to go near sunset. Is that how you observed?

Yeah, thank you. And I'm actually glad not to be talking about colonial period when beavers were a currency anymore. It was so kind of heartbreaking to go back into that historical moment and think about that. But yes, beavers are actually crepuscular, I would discover.

So they come out in the evening and they work nocturnally at night.

So I was walking one evening and I witnessed a beaver making a pond near my house.

And it was one of the most incredible things I'd ever seen.

It just literally stopped me in my tracks. And I just couldn't stop watching

this beaver. And then this beaver was watching me. And we got into this relationship where I was

just, it was part of my day to go down to the beaver pond and watch this beaver what what I would

learn when I researched this book and it would lead me into a six year journey as it would

turn out researching this book and the whole story and set of stories in the book but what I

would discover is that it's actually adult females

that tend to go out and inspect the dam every evening.

And so I quickly assumed that the beaver I was watching was a female.

And it turns out that was true, probably.

And then my beaver disappeared, and that set me on a journey to figure out why. I was

so incredibly bereft because what I had witnessed was so magical. It happened so fast.

...