America, land of the free, home of the brave, does a lot of weird stuff. From the country that brought you Donald Trump, spreadable marshmallow paste, and the Kardashians comes this latest venture into the bizarre: Fat Bear Week.
This hallowed American tradition takes place in the shouldn’t-really-be-part-of-America state of Alaska. Katmai National Park is the epicentre of the action, running its eighth annual Fat Bear Week, a head-to-head knockout of chonky bears vying for the title of Katmai’s largest.
Started in 2014, the competition has become one of the internet’s favourite. The bears, all North American brown bears, otherwise known as Grizzly bears, have become minor internet celebrities in their own right as their every move is live-streamed on the explore.org website. Nearly 793,000 votes were cast in the 2021 polls and this year is set to be even bigger.
Entrants are selected by park rangers for their local clout, having spent the spring and summer periods in the park fattening themselves on migrating salmon that travel along the Brooks River in order to spawn.
“Fat Bear Week is for the fans! It is a party that celebrates the March Madness of Nature!” said explore.org founder Charlie Annenberg Weingarten in a press release.
“From 747 to the beloved Otis and the relationship between sisters 909 and 910 and their cubs, the magic of the bears never ceases to amaze”.
Rangers note that Alaska is home to more brown bears than people and has the largest run of sockeye salmon on the planet. This year’s record number of returning salmon to Brook River has given the bears an extra opportunity to pack on the pounds for 2022’s heavyweight title.
Each of the twelve contestants have before and after photos taken, displaying the incredible growth spurts that they undergo during the feeding season in preparation for their winter hibernation. Some of them can pack on up to 200kgs over the summer and voters judge the bears based on their overall bulkiness.
This year sees bears ‘Chunk’, ‘Grazer’, ‘Walker’, ‘335’, ‘164’, ‘Holly’, ‘747’, ‘Otis’, ‘Divot’, ‘856’, ‘901’ and ‘909’s Yearling’ going head to head.
Otis was the king of the fat bears last year bringing his total wins up to four. Born between 1995 and 1997, Otis is now an elder bear who prefers sitting in wait for his salmon to come to him. This strategy once netted him 42 fish in a single go.
He’ll have to face off stiff competition this year, however, as 747, named after the famous jet plane, has been putting in the hard yards and has become the most dominant bear in the region. Park rangers estimate his weight to be around 636 kgs, making him one of the largest brown bears on Earth. For comparison, that’s like half a Toyota Corolla.
The competition kicked off this week on Wednesday, with live voting knocking 335 out against 164, and 747 beating out longtime rival 856. Divot was also knocked out by Walker while 901 took out relative newcomer 909’s Yearling.
With eight bears still remaining in the competition, it’s all to play for and the next round of live voting will take place on Friday. The next rounds are between popular favourite Holly and 164 while 747 will face off against the younger Chunk. Australian players will struggle to get their bets in however as voting happens at 3 am AEDT. Bear fanatics in WA might have better luck as they’ll only need to stay up until 12am.
The final round will commence on ‘Fat bear Tuesday’, where a winner will be crowned. This one is a little more Aussie-friendly, taking place at 10 am on Wednesday, October 11.
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