Home » Alaska’s Fat Bear Week is back as chunkiest of chunks get ready for winter

Alaska’s Fat Bear Week is back as chunkiest of chunks get ready for winter

by John Jefferson
0 comment

An Alaska national park’s yearly celebration of the beefy, brown, and bristly is getting underway as some of the chunkiest bears on the planet fatten up for their long winter slumber.

Fat Bear Week doesn’t officially start at Katmai National Park and Preserve until October 2, when fans can begin voting online for their favorite ursine behemoths in tournament-style brackets.

But on Tuesday organizers revealed the four cub contestants in this week’s Fat Bear Jr contest — with the “chubby champ charging on to face the corpulent competition” in the adult bracket, as Naomi Boak of the nonprofit Katmai Conservancy put it during the live streamed announcement.

Fat Bear Week
Fat Bear Week (AP)

The annual contest, which drew more than 1.3 million votes last year, is way to celebrate the resiliency of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve on the Alaska Peninsula, which extends from the state’s southwest corner toward the Aleutian Islands. The most dedicated fans watch the bears on live cameras at explore.org all summer long as they feast on sockeye salmon returning to the Brooks River.

This year’s contestants for Fat Bear Jr include some familiar muzzles: Both the 2022 and 2023 junior champs are up for a repeat; they re eligible because they still meet the criteria for being considered a cub, including reing with a sow. Most cubs stay with their mother for about 2 1/2 years, but the 2022 Fat Bear Jr. winner, known as 909 Jr, who has reed with an aunt, is almost 4 years old.

Fat Bear Week
Fat Bear Week (AP)
Fat Bear Week
Fat Bear Week (AP)
Fat Bear Week
Fat Bear Week (AP)

There’s also an emotional favorite: a spring cub of Grazer, last year’s Fat Bear champ. The cub’s sibling died this summer after it slipped over a small waterfall on the Brooks River and was killed by a dominant adult male known as Chunk, or Bear 32 — an attack captured on the bear cams. Grazer fought Chunk in an effort to save the cub, but it later died.

Adult male brown bears typically weigh 600 to 900 pounds (about 270 to 410 kilograms) in mid-summer. By the time they are ready to hibernate after feasting on migrating and spawning salmon — each eats as many as 30 fish per day — large males can weigh well over 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms). Females are about one-third smaller.

The adult contestants for the Fat Bear Week tournament will be announced September 30, with voting taking place October 2-8.

Read the full article here

You may also like

Leave a Comment

Our Company

True Battle is your one-stop website for the latest politics news from the US and the World, follow us now to get the news that matters to you.

Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter to get the latest political news, articles & new reports. Let's stay updated!

Laest News

© Copyright 2023 – All Right Reserved

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Accept Read More

Privacy & Cookies Policy