The North American beaver has expanded its range in recent years and is now colonising Arctic territory, researchers have found. More than 12,000 beaver ponds have been mapped in western Alaska – double the amount found in the region 20 years ago.

The Baldwin Peninsula near Kotzebue has seen a massive increase in beavers over the last two decades, according to new research from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

How the beavers got to the Baldwin Peninsula, which is surrounded by salt water and extends north of the Arctic Circle, is anyone’s guess.

Climate change may be enabling beavers to move deeper into the Arctic. And as they move, they magnify climate change’s effects.