A beaver in Chicago is making headlines for one notable accomplishment: being “remarkably rotund.”
Environmental nonprofit Urban Rivers posted video of the plus-size rodent on Reddit earlier this week with the title, “This huge Southside beaver needs a name.”
Accompanying black-and-white footage shows the orb-like, fur-covered creature padding around in the snow.
Urban Rivers provided more detail on the big beaver’s activities and whereabouts in a follow-up comment, noting that the beaver as been seen “at the intersection of the south, southwest and west sides of the city,” where she “lives, eats, and knocks down trees.”
The nonprofit suspects the beaver isn’t simply gluttonous. Urban Rivers beaver researcher Sammie Clark clarified to local news station WGN-TV that the beaver’s sex isn’t known for sure ― though she’s hopeful it’s an expectant mother.
“Seeing this individual looking so plump, especially this time of year, gives us hope that it could be the female pregnant again,” she said.
Even if the beaver is pregnant, its size is still a marvel, since the mammal has “been remarkably rotund” for longer than the two to three months a beaver pregnancy usually lasts, Urban Rivers noted on Reddit.
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“Its shape, it’s just so spherical, so round,” volunteer coordinator Stephen Meyer told Block Club Chicago. “Normally they’re a little more streamlined, able to move through the water. They look a little more agile. And this one, it’s just a beach ball and waddling around real slow.”
The group is currently taking name suggestions for the stout celeb. Some of the top suggestions on Reddit include Lori Heavyfoot, Sigourney Beaver, and Southside Large Marge.
