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It's that marvelous clip of twelvemonth erstwhile the net gets to ballot for its favourite stuffed carnivore – the chaotic kind.
Fat Bear Week is officially upon us, and the contention this autumn is fierce.
To qualify, Alaska's brownish bears (Ursus arctos) indispensable beryllium spotted catching sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) connected the Brooks River successful the precocious summertime and aboriginal autumn.
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To win, they indispensable seizure the world's emotion and admiration with their tremendous behinds.
The weeklong, single-elimination tournament, tally by Katmai National Park, is designed to crown the carnivore that "exemplifies fatness and success" best.
From precocious June onward, these bootylicious predators person been feasting connected sockeye, and they volition proceed to bash truthful until the salmon tally ends successful precocious October. Over winter, portion the bears hibernate, they tin suffer a 3rd of their assemblage weight, truthful it's important to battalion connected arsenic overmuch arsenic they tin successful the lead-up.
A brownish carnivore emerging from its den aft hibernation. (L. Pastweka, National Park Service)Every infinitesimal connected the lips this summertime adds up to a wintertime connected the hips. By precocious summer, aboriginal fall, immoderate bears connected this stream measurement much than 544 kilograms (or 1,200 pounds).
Fat Bear Week began astir 10 years agone aft live streaming cameras were acceptable up connected the Brooks River – one of the healthiest runs of sockeye salmon near successful the world. Originally, they were placed determination to larn astir the idiosyncratic brownish bears who past connected this dependable watercourse of life.
Today, over a cardinal people from much than 100 countries formed their votes successful Fat Bear Week.
The victor of Fat Bear Week 2022. (L. Law/Katmai National Park)Grazer, successful the representation below, has won the past two years successful a row.
She is the archetypal parent carnivore to ever triumph the title, and she is described arsenic a "highly defensive" parent, who knows conscionable wherever to food to enactment distant from competition.
Grazer, the Fat Bear Week champion of 2023 and 2024. (NPS Photo/F. Jimenez)Chunk is besides a beardown contender successful Fat Bear Week. This fella weighs much than 544 kilos, and adjacent though helium suffered a breached jaw earlier this summer, that hasn't stopped him from gorging himself.
"His breached jaw is simply a imperishable disablement that volition ne'er instrumentality to normal," reads his online bio. "Resilience successful the aftermath of symptom and struggle is written connected Chunk's face."
Chunk looking chunky successful a erstwhile twelvemonth of Fat Bear Week. (E. Johnston/NPS)Another carnivore to support an oculus connected this twelvemonth is 602. He's been 1 of the astir predominant visitors to the river, and the net has nicknamed him "floatato" due to the fact that helium has a penchant for napping successful the water.
With contenders similar these, however volition we choose…
You tin ticker the unrecorded watercourse of the stream here, and ballot for your favourite abdominous carnivore here.
