Beaver Clan

This is a medicine stick of the Northern Cheyenne Beaver Clan that I have in my studio. The beaver skull is attached to a willow branch and decorated with beads and feathers. For those who have never seen a beaver, note the huge 6" lower incisor as compared to the smaller upper incisor. They literally gnaw down trees up to a foot in diameter, but use mostly smaller 6" trees for dens in the water. The large grinding molars can be seen clearly. If you Google beavers you can see what they look like with their faces attached instead of as a symbol for a powerful Indian clan.