On a serene evening in autumn near Perth, Ontario, a group of wildlife photographers quietly pursued their elusive subject on a river. Their boat, propelled by an electric trolling motor, glided smoothly upstream, maintaining a tranquil surface. Suddenly, a loud splash disrupted the calmness as the creature they were after swiftly disappeared beneath the water, its tail making a resounding slap.
The legendary white beaver had sensed their presence.
Dennis Jackson, an Ottawa photographer with a passion for capturing wildlife through his lens, found himself face to face with this rare creature, a sight he never imagined witnessing despite his extensive experience. Following a prior sighting during a boat excursion with a neighbor, Jackson eagerly returned to the river, accompanied by renowned Canadian naturalist Michael Runtz, his wife Britta Runtz, a professional photographer, and a CBC reporter.
Beyond the anticipation of another encounter, Jackson sought to unravel a mystery: Was the white beaver an albino, a scenario challenging for survival due to impaired vision in most albino animals, or was it leucistic, a genetic condition causing partial pigmentation loss?
Under the dusky sky, the white beaver reappeared, but upon catching the human scent, its intentions remained uncertain. As the photographers held their breath, the white beaver gracefully swam past their boat underwater, its pale tail shimmering before emerging among the reeds. Climbing onto land to groom its coat, the beaver revealed a dark patch on its front left paw and distinctly dark eyes.
Runtz, a recently retired professor from Carleton University, marveled at the sighting, confidently identifying the beaver as leucistic rather than albino based on its physical characteristics.
The joy of witnessing such a rare sight was further heightened by the successful capture of photographs, a moment Runtz expressed with satisfaction.
While color mutations occasionally occur in beavers and other wildlife, lighter coats can pose increased risks from predators due to heightened visibility.
The rarity of white beavers is underscored by the Canadian Museum of Nature’s possession of a leucistic beaver pelt collected in 1918. Dominique Fauteux, a mammalogy specialist and research scientist at the museum, emphasized the scarcity of white beavers as evidence that this genetic variation may not confer evolutionary advantages.
For Jackson, the scientific implications paled in comparison to the sheer uniqueness and awe-inspiring nature of the encounter.
Steering the boat homeward, Jackson reflected, “That is totally one of the coolest things that I’ve seen.”
