Fat Squirrel Season is so real and so out there.

There has been an outbreak in the obesity of squirrels this season. Through social media, people are sharing their own snapshots of particularly chubby squirrels found guilty in parks, backyards, basically anywhere where squirrels hang. In a nutshell, squirrels getting fatter and fatter automatically equals cute.

Many questions have arisen since this new phenomenon stole the internet, like “Why am I now googling pictures of incredibly unhealthy-looking but adorable fat squirrels and dying from said adorableness?!” and “How do squirrels even get that fat? I mean, their tails get fat with them!”

While the first question is still valid, only the second can be answered with cold, hard facts. So- how do squirrels even get so fat?

For starters, most squirrels do not hibernate, even though it is widely thought that they do.

According to SquirrelNutrition, “The short answer is, ‘No, squirrels do not hibernate, but they do sleep a lot!’ Squirrels do not hibernate in winter, but they do not like bitter cold weather, so they will stay hunkered down in their den or drey when it is really cold, opting to stay warm with their friends rather than venture out.”

Some research may suggest that 2015/2016 may have been boom years for acorns.

From WBUR’s The Wild Life, “‘In some areas it’s been a good acorn year, which helps [squirrels] a lot, in other areas it hasn’t…Squirrels will eat anything, they are omnivores, so I would imagine grey squirrels unfortunately will do very well this winter.’”

However, the most popular reason for all the fat cuteness in squirrels this season is that the winters are getting warmer. Some might blame this drastic weather change on global warming or the infamous “El Niño.” In fact, this past December in 2015 was the warmest on pretty much a national scale, naturally affecting humans and animals (squirrel!) alike.

Having a warmer winter meant there was more food available for the squirrels, and the squirrels jumped on that opportunity to bulk up for what seemed like a rather mild December.

Still, some people believe this is all natural for squirrels. Much like most wild animals, squirrels naturally store massive scores of food in the summer and eat more during autumn in preparation for the colder months.

According to The Weather Channel, “’Squirrels are opportunists and much like humans will take advantage of any food that is available,’ Nick Mason of the Red Squirrels Northern England and Northumberland Wildlife Trust, told the Daily Mail. ‘It is fairly typical for squirrels to put on weight through the year and this can vary depending on the stage of their breeding cycle and their life cycle.’”

Overall, it doesn’t really matter the cause of this sudden obesity. Squirrels are cute and fat during this season and should be cherished and have lots of photos taken when possible.