Beavering
Louis-Marie Préau, France
2011
“I have never forgotten the first time I saw a European beaver under water delivering a branch to its family,” Préau said. He returned each season for four years to the same spot on the Loire River in France to try to photograph this routine. Wearing snorkelling gear, Préau eventually got lucky. Using weights so he could lie on the river bottom, he photographed this adult dragging a poplar branch back to the dam for its kits. “It looked like hard work,” Préau said. This beaver is descended from a group that was reintroduced in the 1970s following the extinction of most European beavers, which were hunted for their fur and tail glands.
Technical specification: Canon EOS 5D + 16-35mm lens; 1/125 sec at f4; ISO 800; Ikelite housing
