The brown bears aren\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n
Bear 910, a female dubbed “Dancing Queen”, came in second in the annual competition. Photo \/ National Park Service<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re all winners,\u201d Katmai park ranger Sarah Bruce said. \u201cThey\u2019re all set up to survive winter hibernation.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s winner was a \u201cnepo baby\u201d \u2013 nepo cub? \u2013 but so was his rival. Both 910 and Backpack had winning lineages: her mother was two-time winner 409 \u201cBeadnose\u201d and his mother was 435 \u201cHolly\u201d, the 2019 victor.<\/p>\n
The legacies are a testament to the bears\u2019 habits and to the histories that park officials have compiled over years of observation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs 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\u2019re going to continue to see the generations kind of cycle through,\u201c Bruce said.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s total of 1.7 million, not just because there were more polls this time around.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have more interest,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s been mind-blowing … It\u2019s incomprehensible just how many more people are finding it each year and the love that it continues to get.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even Google got into the spirit, offering a bear animation for the \u201cFat Bear Week\u201d search that allowed users to click on a salmon to feed a bear and bulk it up.<\/p>\n
On message boards, enthusiasts campaigned for their favourite finalists and highlighted assets such as \u201cserious badonkadonk\u201d, \u201cthunder thighs\u201d and \u201cchonky bearness\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s participants ranged from 478kg to 578kg, but the winner isn\u2019t chosen purely on flab.<\/p>\n
Fans often consider the bears\u2019 back stories and develop a fondness for individual contestants they can watch on live cameras.<\/p>\n
The competitors are focused on a higher calling.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bears have no idea this is happening,\u201d Bruce said. \u201cThey just want to get fat and survive winter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The brown bears aren\u2019t feasting on the sockeye salmon in Brooks River just for fun; putting on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616185,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[26475,41415,34554,20206,1558,6028,13114,31442,185,117,111,139,69,147,7246,686,406,10508],"class_list":["post-616184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-26475","tag-alaska","tag-backpack","tag-bear","tag-been","tag-champion","tag-crowned","tag-fat","tag-is","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-votes","tag-week","tag-wildlife","tag-winner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}