The dam in northern Canada spans 2,800 feet and has likely been under beavers' construction since the mid-1970s.
THE GIST
- A beaver dam in Canada's Wood Buffalo National Park spans about 2,800 feet.
- Several generations of beavers have worked on the dam since the mid-1970s and it's still growing.
- It surpasses a previous record-sized beaver dam in Montana.
A Canadian ecologist has discovered the world's largest beaver dam in a remote area of northern Alberta, an animal-made structure so large it is visible from space.
Researcher Jean Thie said Wednesday he used satellite imagery and Google Earth software to locate the dam, which is about 850 meters (2,800 feet) long on the southern edge of Wood Buffalo National Park.
Average beaver dams in Canada are 10 to 100 meters long, and only rarely do they reach 500 meters.
First discovered in October 2007, the gigantic dam is located in a virtually inaccessible part of the park south of Lac Claire, about 190 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of Fort McMurray.
Construction of the dam likely started in the mid-1970s, said Thie, who made his discovery quite by accident while tracking melting permafrost in Canada's far north.
"Several generations of beavers worked on it and it's still growing," he said.
