Beaver

The beaver (genus Castor) is a primarily nocturnal, large, semiaquatic rodent. Castor includes two extant species, the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) (native to North America) and Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) (Eurasia). Beavers are known for building dams, canals, and lodges (homes). They are the second-largest rodent in the world (after the capybara). Their colonies create one or more dams to provide still, deep water to protect against predators, and to float food and building material. The North American beaver population was once more than 60 million, but as of 1988 was 6–12 million. This population decline is the result of extensive hunting for fur, for glands used as medicine and perfume, and because the beavers' harvesting of trees and flooding of waterways may interfere with other land uses.

General

Beavers, along with pocket gophers and kangaroo rats, are castorimorph rodents, a suborder of rodents mostly restricted to North America. Although just two closely related species exist today, beavers have a long fossil history in the Northern Hemisphere beginning in the Eocene, and many species of giant beaver existed until quite recently, such as Trogontherium in Europe, and Castoroides in North America.

Shades of brown

Brown is a composite color which can be produced by combining red, yellow and black, or by a combination of orange and black—as can be seen in the color box at right. The color brown shown at right has a hue code of 30, signifying that is a shade of orange. In the RGB color model used to create all the colors on computer and television screens, brown is made by combining red and green light at different intensities. Brown color names are often not very precise, and some shades, such as beige, can refer to a wide variety of colors, including shades of yellow or red. Browns are usually described as light or dark, reddish, yellowish, or gray-brown. There are no standardized names for shades of brown; the same shade may have different names on different color lists, and sometimes the one name (such as beige or puce) can refer to several very different colors. The X11 color list of web colors lists seventeen different shades of brown, but the complete list of browns is much longer.

The Beaver (film)

The Beaver is a 2011 drama film directed by and starring Jodie Foster, written by Kyle Killen, and starring Mel Gibson, Anton Yelchin, and Jennifer Lawrence. This is Gibson and Foster's first film together since 1994's Maverick. This is Summit Entertainment's only film to have Entertainment One not distribute it within the UK.

Plot

Walter Black (Mel Gibson) is a depressed CEO of Jerry Co., a toy company nearing bankruptcy. He is kicked out by his wife (Jodie Foster), to the relief of their elder son Porter (Anton Yelchin). Walter moves into a hotel. After unsuccessful suicide attempts, he develops an alternate personality represented by a beaver hand puppet found in the trash. He wears the puppet constantly, communicating solely by speaking as the beaver, helping him to recover. He reestablishes a bond with his younger son Henry and then with his wife, although not with Porter. He also becomes successful again at work by creating a line of Mr. Beaver Building Kits for kids.