Alaska votes for fattest bear – these are the favorites (and they’re really fat)

Katmai Park in southwest Alaska is hosting Fat Bear Week for the eighth time. Taking place between October 5 and 11, the competition aims to provide information about the ecosystem and habitat of the region’s more than 2,000 brown bears.

The process is simple: the bears compete against each other in online duels. Bear fans can then vote on which of the two bears represents “fat” better. The gem with the most votes advances one round.

The competition rightly celebrates the bears’ obesity: they must eat fat in the summer to prepare for hibernation. During this time, they do not eat or drink and can lose a third of their body weight. Their survival therefore depends on the pre-built fat reserves. So, the thicker the better.

To illustrate this important process, there are before and after photos of all the bears. The skinny bears can be seen in the photo just after hibernation. The photo below shows them after fat fishing for salmon all summer.

Like 747:

747 was first identified in 2004. The photo on the left shows it after hibernation. He is marked by many scars, a sign of fighting around the best fishing spots. His triumph two years ago shows that these were often successful. Because he was already named fattest bear. He can count on good opportunities again this year: As the photo on the right shows, he has become very fat in the summer.

However, the event organizers recommend that you don’t just look at the pictures of the bears. There are several factors that influence obesity in bears. This is made clear in the biographies created for each of the bears.

For example, keep in mind that younger bears have huge growth spurts, making them appear bigger and fatter in a short period of time.

An example of this is this female, which bears the name “909’s cub” (cub of 909). It was first sighted in 2021 and has grown significantly in size and weight within a year. She has the potential to become even fatter in the future: as her biography shows, she is already catching fish herself, which is unusual at her young age.

Mother bears, on the other hand, have a harder time gaining weight because they also have to worry about their cubs. The challenge for the older bears is to compete for trapping grounds against younger and larger bears. Hence the aforementioned statement: vote for the bear that best represents “fat”.

747 has already successfully survived the first round: at the start of the elections on Wednesday (local time), 747, whose weight is estimated at more than 600 kilograms, received more votes than its younger rival No. 856. With the huge ” Boeing body “, 747 would have reached flight altitude, the park administration joked in a statement.

Newcomer No. 164 also had the upper hand in the first second round. Park rangers had previously praised the younger brown bear’s clever fishing methods. With these two candidates, there are now eight bears in the running, including last year’s winner Otis, the imposing male No. 32 nicknamed “Chunk” (in German “Klotz”) and the voluptuous Holly.

Chunk has a good chance of winning. What distinguishes the approximately 15-year-old bear according to his biography: even after hibernation, he still brings fat from last summer.

Holly won the title three years ago. An accomplished mother, she is known for adopting a bear cub in 2014. She raised this with her own cubs, which is rarely seen. She makes it clear with her weight that she didn’t have to raise boys this year:

The winner will be chosen on Fat Bear Tuesday (October 11). You can also cast your vote here.

With material from the news agencies SDA and DPA.