The worldwide beaver population has exploded in the last 100 years. See the map below. The brown areas have beaver populations. Beavers were hunted to extinction in many places for their fur, but fashions changed. Men don’t wear beaver hats anymore. See the photo below of some well-dressed gentleman in Boise, Idaho in the 1890s, all wearing beaver top hats. Also, because of global warming, beavers are now thriving in places where it was too cold for them before, like Alaska and Siberia. Some respected scientific publications claim that beavers contribute to global warming because the water in their ponds trap solar heat, and that heat melts the permafrost beneath them. I refuse to believe that beavers are responsible for global warming, but I may be prejudiced about this. I like beavers.