Photographer Went Underwater Every Day for Four Years to Capture a Beaver

Photographer Louis-Marie Preau went underwater every day for four years to take a photograph of a Eurasian beaver swimming in the Loire River, Gizmodo writes. The resulting photograph was recently published in the BioGraphic.

“Every evening, wearing snorkeling gear and weights, he would lie motionless on the riverbed for two to three hours. Finally, one evening, his patience paid off,” it says in the photograph’s description. “Preau had only just plunged into the water and positioned himself when this adult returned with a freshly harvested poplar branch to feed to its three young kits.”

It is reported that since the Middle Ages, the population of this species declined considerably, after people started hunting Eurasian beavers for their fur and meat. By the early 20th century, there was only about 1,200 of them left, but the measures taken to prevent the extinction of the species were successful — recently, the number of Eurasian beavers has been growing.