In Henry IV Part 1, Vernon refers to the clothing of young Harry saying “I saw young Harry, with his beaver on…” There are at least 6 other references to the large, semi-aquatic rodent known as the beaver to be found in Shakespeare’s plays, and while many of Shakespeare’s references are talking about the helmet feature that opens and closes on the front of soldier’s face, the references are a reflection of the animal beaver that had been plentiful in the UK right up until Shakespeare’s lifetime, when they had been hunted for their fur, meat, and castoreum, a substance produced by their anal scent glands that was used in products like perfume. While beavers were once native to Britain, they were hunted to extinction during the 16th century, and have only recently started to be reintroduced to the UK. Our guest this week, Lee Raye, joins us to talk about the journey from native species to extinction for the beaver, how that impacted commerce and the landscape of England during Shakespeare’s lifetime, and to update us on the efforts to reintroduce the beaver to the UK that have been taking place recently. 

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