Beaver battle! Watch beavers duke it out in rare footage

close

Video

Beavers wrestling in Scottish river captured on camera

In the early morning, two beavers were caught on camera wrestling with each other in a Scottish river. The 'fight' is said to be a form of social interactive behavior.

In rare footage, two beavers have been caught on camera wrestling with each other in a Scottish river.

SWNS reports that the mammals’ “fight” in the river Tay was filmed by Colin Black. "It was like watching two humans wrestling,” he told SWNS. "It's very rare to even see that behavior in the first place, let alone catch it on camera."

"I knew of a family of beavers living in a lodge, which is a kind of a beaver settlement, so I set around watching them,” he added. "At around five or six in the morning these two beavers came out and they began to tussle.”

HOW BEAVERS HELPED TO BUILD AMERICA

Beavers fight and claw each other in the river Tay in Tayside, Scotland. (SWNS)

"It looks quite vicious but I've been told by the Scottish Wild Beaver Group that it's actually a form of social interactive behavior between them, and it's rarely seen behavior,” Black continued.

OFTEN PESKY BEAVERS PUT TO WORK RESTORING STREAMS

The beavers were spotted in August. (SWNS)

Beavers were hunted to extinction in the U.K., but have been reintroduced to the country, according to The Wildlife Trusts. “The Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) is a large herbivore, a mammal that was formerly native to these shores and once played an important part in our landscape from prehistoric times until it was hunted to extinction in the 16th century for its fur, meat and scent glands,” the Trusts explained on its website.

The beaver population in the Tayside region, where the two animals were spotted, was estimated to be 250 in 2016, up from 146 in 2012, according to the Scottish Government.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers