Scientists have found the reintroduction of beavers to Devon is helping to reduce the impacts of flooding and drought.

The University of Exeter and Devon Wildlife Trust have worked with land owners to monitor four wild beaver territories over the past ten years.

Dams built by the beavers are now storing more than 24 million litres of water, that is the equivalent to around 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools of water.

Having been hunted to extinction 400 years ago, beavers returned to the River Otter in 2014.

No one knows how or by whom the animals were reintroduced, but in 2020 the beavers were given the legal right to stay. There are now 20 separate family territories along the river and its tributaries.