astranoir

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katsdom:

copperbadge:

mewzaque:

copperbadge:

auguris:

teathattast:

Has anyone warned @copperbadge yet

What a lot of people outside of Chicago may not realize is that The Beans are a native species to this region and right now is baby season! What you’re seeing there is probably just an instance of a young mature The Bean being kept in a secure enclosure, probably due to some kind of injury that’s being rehabbed.

In urban Chicago around this time of year if you want to go The Bean spotting you mostly just need to keep an eye out around downtown drugstores for formations like this.

I took this picture myself in a Walgreens. As you can see we have a nice healthy-looking family group consisting of a parent The Bean, several juveniles who will often stay with the parent for several years, and some newborns this year who naturally group up protectively near any large sign reading “Chicago”.

The Beans are usually extremely docile and can even be kept as pets once the juveniles separate from their family group, since they are low-maintenance and require only a small flat area such as a desk or bookshelf on which to recline. Fun fact, a group of The Beans such as pictured above is known as a Tchochki!

Are adult The Beans usually around the size of the one in the above photo? The most famous one I know of is about three humans tall. Is that a genetic rarity, or is it more like lobsters?

There’s a lot of debate in TheBean Biology circles about the massive The Bean residing in Millennium Park. It’s not known why this The Bean chose the park or why it has grown to such gargantuan size. I’m not an expert, I just live here, but I tend to agree with the newer theory that they can regularly grow to massive sizes in the wild, but we only tend to encounter smaller ones because such huge sizes generally only occur in deep freshwater lakes.

It’s certainly very unusual to see a The Bean of that size on land. Such a privilege to live in a place where they feel safe enough to take up residence alongside humans.

@copperbadge I have a question. I might be interested in keeping one as a pet but I want to be a responsible parent and need to know a little more. Can one of them be happy by itself, or is it better to get a pair for companionship? Also, of course, what is a healthy diet for them? Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Well, as I said I’m not an expert, but it’s my understanding that once juveniles leave the family unit they’re generally pretty solitary until they begin families of their own, so just getting one should be fine. It doesn’t appear that The Beans reproduce asexually (nobody’s really positive how they do it) so unless you want a whole tchochki of The Beans it may be best to stick to one.

For feeding you’d really have to consult an expert; the Chicago Parks District might have some kind of infomatic about it on their website. I have no idea what the big The Bean in Millennium Park is fed. Apparently you used to be able to attend feedings but for “public safety” reasons they put an end to that before I moved here. In any case, good luck! You’re being a great prospective pet parent.

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