The brown bears aren’t feasting on the sockeye salmon in Brooks River just for fun; putting on the pounds is crucial for their survival as they prepare for hibernation later in autumn.
Bear 910, a female dubbed “Dancing Queen”, came in second in the annual competition. Photo / National Park Service
“They’re all winners,” Katmai park ranger Sarah Bruce said. “They’re all set up to survive winter hibernation.”
This year’s winner was a “nepo baby” – nepo cub? – but so was his rival. Both 910 and Backpack had winning lineages: her mother was two-time winner 409 “Beadnose” and his mother was 435 “Holly”, the 2019 victor.
The legacies are a testament to the bears’ habits and to the histories that park officials have compiled over years of observation.
“As we move forward into the future, because the same bears return to the Brooks River every year and female bears raise their young on the Brooks River … we’re going to continue to see the generations kind of cycle through,“ Bruce said.
Interest in the bracket-style tournament this year was so significant that early voting overwhelmed the system and forced an extension of the first round. Bruce said the number of votes had surpassed last year’s total of 1.7 million, not just because there were more polls this time around.
“We have more interest,” she said. “That’s been mind-blowing … It’s incomprehensible just how many more people are finding it each year and the love that it continues to get.”
Even Google got into the spirit, offering a bear animation for the “Fat Bear Week” search that allowed users to click on a salmon to feed a bear and bulk it up.
On message boards, enthusiasts campaigned for their favourite finalists and highlighted assets such as “serious badonkadonk”, “thunder thighs” and “chonky bearness”.
According to the National Park Service, adult males can weigh from about 275kg to more than 400kg by mid-summer, but balloon to more than 450kg by October and November. Weight estimates for some of this year’s participants ranged from 478kg to 578kg, but the winner isn’t chosen purely on flab.
Fans often consider the bears’ back stories and develop a fondness for individual contestants they can watch on live cameras.
The competitors are focused on a higher calling.
“The bears have no idea this is happening,” Bruce said. “They just want to get fat and survive winter.”
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