Here is one of the Park's most interesting small mammals; interesting because of its habits but also because of the fact that the species stands alone, having apparently no close relatives among our present day mamnmals. And because it occurs only in a limited range in the moist sections along the Pacific Coast between the Cascades or Sierras and the Pacific it is little known. At the Nisqually Entrance recently we watched one of these fellows working in the ferns and vegetation on the hillside -- watched him carry large bundles of such food to his burrow nearby. He is herbacious and often, in his quest for the bark of trees he completely girdles and kills them. On a recent trip to Van Trump Park many Mountain Beaver burrows were seen in the snow for winter's rigors do not retard his efforts in this direction. The name "Mountain Beaver" is a misnomer for he is not related to the industrious builder of dams, nor does he look like him -- he is a thick, squat animal with fore legs developed for burrowing and, with the exception of the lack of a visible tail, resembles to some extent a woodchuck or gopher.

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