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Curious City

Is That A Lobster In The Chicago River?

Curious City

WBEZ Chicago

Society & Culture, Education, Public, Chicago, Arts, City, Radio, Curious, Investigation

4.8642 Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It’s an invasive species that doesn’t seem harmful at first glance. But if they go unchecked, these little things can disrupt local ecologies.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hey there. I'm reporter Laura Paven. And you know what I love about summer in Chicago?

0:07.2

All of its water activity. You've got architecture tours, kayaking, fishing, swimming, and a semi-annual

0:14.9

sighting of a creature that's totally out of left field. We've had alligators, snapping turtles,

0:22.0

and we might have another thing to add to the list, lobsters. This was put on my radar by a listener. She wrote to us

0:30.0

about whether the Chicago River is, in fact, home to lobsters. She swears she saw one.

0:41.2

Here's the thing. Lobsters are saltwater creatures.

0:46.4

They can't survive in freshwater. So if lobsters don't call the Chicago River their home,

0:52.5

then what did our question ask her see? I sat myself on a boat to find the answer to a familiar question in this city. What's lurking in the

0:55.4

Chicago River this time? The answer yields a David and Glyath-like tale, an inspiring story of the

1:02.5

small outwitting the big. The big in the story, though, it's us. That's next.

1:21.6

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1:24.5

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1:28.0

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1:33.6

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1:39.1

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1:49.7

On a sunny morning in Chicago, I made my way over to the calm waters of the Chicago River.

1:56.3

Same waters where the snapping turtle was found. But I'm not here for turtles. I'm here for

2:01.0

lobsters. I head over to the boat launch located on the north branch of the Chicago River,

2:07.4

between West Argyll Street and West Foster Avenue. You guys do it. I'm Laura Pavan. Nice to meet you

2:13.9

too. Everybody finally made it. Yes, yes.

2:21.4

Ruben Keller is a freshwater ecologist at Loyola University,

2:26.1

and he invites me to hop aboard a boat to the banks of the Chicago River and River Park.

...

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