![]() ![]() In addition to caring for his beaver child, he notes the courting ritual of a redwing, recoils at the sight of leeches, discovers a wolf toilet and stalks the immediate family. He ponders the question of instinct-an idea he's uneasy with-and offers suggestions in less investigated areas: the fat in a beaver's tail may act as antifreeze. Lawrence, a naturalist juggling a romantic sensibility with scientific concerns, is an especially thoughtful observer and his speculations-on beaver intelligence, land mounds, tail flapping-ring true. Snuggling into the sleeping bag, lipping up Pablum, or cowering during a thunderstorm, he is a responsive companion who wails when he's hungry, collapses when he's tired, and learns to prefer his (manmade) dam. Paddy, an impish handful from the start, has all the engaging characteristics of a wild animal, temporarily captive, who successfully returns to his own habitat. Back in 1965, Lawrence spent four months studying beaver on a remote Ontario lake, and his memories of that salient time include a brief interlude with a beaver kit whose mother had been killed by a wolf. ![]()
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