The World's Largest Beaver Dam Is Actually In Alberta & You Can See It From Satellites

Those are some busy beavers!

The world's largest beaver dam.

The world's largest beaver dam.

Parks Canada
Creator

Alberta has some truly unique landmarks and scenery, but hidden right up in the north of the province you can find the world's largest beaver dam and it's so huge that you can actually see it from satellites.

The massive dam is in Wood Buffalo National Park where those busy beavers have been working overtime to build the dam which is roughly 800 metres long from end to end, according to Parks Canada.

The world's largest beaver dam.The world's largest beaver dam.Parks Canada

The front of the dam is around 775 metres in length which, to give you an idea of the scale, is about the length of seven football fields.

The entire perimeter is close to 2,000 metres and has a surface area of 70,000 square metres.

It also holds around 70,000 cubic metres of water which is the equivalent of about 92,000 dump trucks or 1,600 hockey rinks of water.

According to Parks Canada, the dam was discovered, kind of by accident, in 2009, when scientists were looking at satellite images to see melting permafrost and landscape changes resulting from climate change.

The world's largest beaver dam.The world's largest beaver dam.Parks Canada

They told Parks Canada, who sent field staff to visit the dam by helicopter to take photos and measure it.

If you did want to visit, the bad news is that it isn't easy.

Because of the dam's remote location, you'd either need to trek for days through wetlands, muskeg and thick boreal forest or charter a private sightseeing tour which is a pretty pricey option.

  • Creator

    Charlie Hart was a Calgary-based Creator for Narcity Media. Hailing from London, U.K., Charlie moved to Calgary with a passion for learning more about what Canada has to offer. She studied Magazine Journalism at Cardiff University and has over five years of experience for titles including Supply Management, Elle UK and InStyle UK.

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