Why Are There Statues of Beavers on Top of This Oxford Street Shop?

It's funny to me, a Canadian, that this even warrants a did-you-know article because everything about the beaver fur/hat making industry is something I learned extensively about in elementary and high school because it was like, a major driver of the European exploration and colonization and therefore significant to the history of my country.

But outside of here it's just a footnote to a fashion trend.

The other interesting but useless fact is that silk top hats (which as the article points out supersede beaver as the fibre of choice) are no longer made - and the technique for making them is effectively lost because they need specialised looms which are also no longer made.

But if you want to go somewhere super fancy like Ascot and look the part, a silk top hat is de rigueur.

There are now a handful of shops that basically have the entire remaining (good) stock and rent them out for an arm and a leg, and take care of them like rare precious things. Which I guess they are.

What such a hat looks like:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_beaver_hat_-_D...

Hopefully Buc-ee's doesn't decide to sue them too for trademark infringement.

> Factory workers soaked the skins in a orange-coloured solution containing mercuric nitrate; a process called 'carroting'. Vapours from the mercury poisoned the workers' nervous systems, making them prone to tremors, irritability, depression, paranoia, dementia and worse.

This is where the Mad Hatter in Alice Through the Looking-Glass comes from.

A movie related to beaver hunting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h4P-26kHAw

If you're interested in learning more about the ecological impact of beavers, I highly recommend "Three Against The Wilderness" by Eric Collier. He homesteaded in BC in the 1930s-60s and encouraged the re-introduction of beavers after being on the brink of extinction here.

The flag of New York City also features beavers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_New_York_City

Edit: it's clearer in the seal of the city https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_New_York_City

Perhaps it's only because we wiped them out so many places that we understand in the slightest the ecological role they play