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We've sent fruit flies, dogs and monkeys to space, but they rarely come back down. That task seems to have been given to other animals altogether. Meet America's parachuting beavers, a regiment of specialised troops that was sent out into the wilderness in the late 1940s.

It was around this time that authorities in the state of Idaho decided that too many beavers were getting close to cities or, more accurately, people were expanding into what was once beaver territory. The state decided they would have to move the beavers, but trapping and transporting them wouldn't be easy, especially since they were to be sent to a place without roads. And horses and beavers don't exactly get along.

Now this was right after World War II and the country had a lot of parachutes. Why not use them? The Idaho Fish and Game department's Elmo Heter started work designing a wooden box that could transport the animals, and open once it hit the ground. He worked with one particular beaver, named Geronimo, dropping him on a landing field over and over to see if the box was working properly.

Altogether 76 beavers were then put into boxes and dropped into what is now the wonderfully named Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area. Only one did not survive.

The department even took video of this incredible event, but it seemed to have disappeared. That is, until a department historian found a mislabeled box with fragile film inside earlier this year. That footage has now been digitised and you can catch a glimpse of the parachuting beavers starting from 7 minute mark in the video above.