Relocating Beavers in the Wild West

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By the 1930s, relocating beavers was actually a pretty common practice. Partly this was to get them out of the way of encroaching humans but also because they were hugely important to ecosystems. Conservationists tried all kinds of solutions including strapping boxes of beavers to the backs of horses and mules. And these pack animals were then led by people sometimes for days deep into the wilderness with their live cargo. It just wasn't a good time.

The whole conceit of this show is that if look at the world in the right way, you’ll see stories everywhere. Some of the stories are epic power struggles chronicling the construction of a famous skyscraper or the founding of a city; but other stories are more modest, smaller in scope and scale. We call those mini-stories and they're part of an ongoing, end-of-the-year tradition in which 99pi producers and friends of the show talk to host Roman Mars about something cool and fun that you can tell your friends or family about during a holiday get together.

You’ll hear about a very, very long escalator! Beavers dropping from the sky! We’ll hear from Janet, Miss Jackson if you’re nasty! Plus a visit from the queen!

Mini-Stories 15: Volume 15