LOS ANGELES — Nickelodeon announced plans this week  to introduce a Native American character on its popular children’s show “Dora the Explorer.” The announcement is part of a strategically planned move designed to counter fallout from new research that identifies a major obesity risk for 1 in 5 U.S. preschoolers.

Native Americans are more likely than any other ethnic group to produce portly toddlers, a fact that adds insult to injury, says Marsha Whitefeather, head of the Native American Positive Image Foundation (NAPIF) and co-creator of the  new “Dora the Explorer” character, Eyanosa. “Native Americans have been marginalized for centuries. Now they’re saying that Native American kids are fatter than everyone else. It’s just not right.”

Nickelodeon spokesperson Randy Delquist wants the American public to understand that fat should transcend culture. “We want to reinforce the message that being big isn’t always about eating, it isn’t always about genetics, it isn’t always about ethnic predispositions. Many times, it’s just who we are. Some people are big, some people are small, it really doesn’t have that much to do with how much we eat, or the types of food we eat, or the types of exercise we do, or do not, do. It doesn’t have to do with our cultures, our habits, or anything like that.”

Dora weighs in

Eyanosa, which is Sioux for “big both ways,” will appear in six new episodes of Dora scheduled to air in the fall. In the episode that introduces Eyanosa, Dora meets her new friend as a hungry eagle tries to make a meal of the boy, but is unable to fly away because the boy is too heavy. “Big and round, stays on the ground!” exclaims Dora, hugging Eyanosa, when he is dropped to his dimpled knees by the exhausted eagle. Dora, Eyanosa and the eagle make an unlikely trio, as Dora and her new friend help the eagle to locate a more appropriate meal.

Whitefeather hopes that Eyanosa will do for the Native American community what Dora herself has done for the Hispanic community. “People love Hispanics now, because of Dora, and to a lesser extent, Diego. Cartoons really have a way of opening people’s eyes to the lovely differences between God’s peoples.”