Battle Of The Chonks! Fat Bear Week Is Coming

Everybody has some particular expertise, one thing they’re distinctive at. Within the animal kingdom, these particular skills play a key function in survival. Some animals have developed really uncommon diversifications: impeccable camouflage, razor-sharp enamel, eager listening to, and extra.

The grizzly bears of Katmai Nationwide Park and Protect in Alaska, which occurs to have the largest population of bears of any national park US, have developed a very distinctive talent, one at which they’re arguably the perfect on the earth. Katmai’s grizzly bears are extraordinarily good…at getting fats.

That is proper, the bears of Katmai are the elite relating to packing on the kilos. Their expertise have develop into so legendary that the Nationwide Park Service has created a week-long occasion to have fun their skills. The occasion? Fats Bear Week!

2024 marks the 10-year anniversary of Fats Bear Week, and it guarantees to be larger than ever.

What Is Fats Bear Week?

Sure, it is an actual occasion, and no, individuals are not invited to compete

First issues first, what precisely is Fats Bear Week? At its core, Fats Bear Week is a celebration of the largest chonks (that is the technical time period) in Katmai Nationwide Park and Protect.

Fats Bear Week 2024, which runs October 2-8, marks the end result of the fat-gaining summer time feeding of the grizzly bears within the park. Equivalent to the autumn salmon run, Fats Bear Week is a time when many of the bears across the park congregate alongside the primary river.

Viewing platforms and live-streaming video cameras (referred to as bear cams) are arrange at sure “pinch factors” in order that guests and on-line viewers can see as many bears as attainable.

Enjoyable Reality! Regardless of garnering hundreds of views throughout Fats Bear Week, Katmai Nationwide Park and Protect is one in all the least-visited national parks in the US, so visiting in-person will not be solely thrilling, however surprisingly serene.

Katmai Nationwide Park and Protect is one in all the best national parks in the US for safe bear viewing, so these platforms and Bear Cams are working all through the summer time, however viewership goes up considerably throughout Fats Bear Week. Because the week goes on, over one million individuals tune in to see simply how a lot the bears can gorge themselves.

Brooks Falls is the spotlight of Fats Bear Week, and Katmai Nationwide Park and Protect usually. Simple fishing makes Brooks Falls a popular viewing area, and bear cam watchers and dwell guests are inclined to congregate at this distinctive spot.

Whereas Fats Bear Week could also be too near schedule a go to this yr, visitors are all the time welcome to benefit from the festivities in particular person at Katmai Nationwide Park and Protect, Alaska.

How Does Fats Bear Week Work?

The multiple million viewers of Fats Bear Week forged their votes for the fattest bear

Okay, so it is acquired a cute identify and a few cute bears, however is Fats Bear Week actually something greater than watching a bunch of grizzly bears eat for every week? You guess it’s!

Park rangers at Katmai National Park and Preserve and members of the Katmai Conservancy work collectively to create an exciting winner-takes-all type match. Fats Bear Week has its personal web site the place visitors can meet the bears, which every have their very own identifiers.

After studying up on the bears, viewers can flick thru the brackets rangers have created in basic one-on-one match-ups. The winners of every bracket transfer to the subsequent spherical till, on the finish of the week, the champion of chonkiness is topped.

Earlier than Fats Bear Week begins, viewers create their very own brackets in true March Insanity trend. They’ll then champion for his or her high decide, commenting on the dwell feed to drum up assist.

In 2023, 1.4 million votes have been forged throughout Fats Bear Week, according to the National Park Service.

About Fats Bear Week

Cannot get sufficient of the fats bears? Fats Bear Week additionally has a Fats Bear Junior competitors, that includes bears between one and 5 years outdated. This yr’s Fats Bear Junior contestants are 806’s Yearling, 910’s 2.5-year-old, 909 junior, and 128’s Spring Cub.

Why Does Fats Bear Week Matter?

Whereas Fats Bear Week is nice enjoyable, it highlights an vital survival intuition

Fats Bear Week is the largest sporting occasion of the yr (objectively talking), however it’s additionally one of the vital weeks for the grizzlies of Katmai.

Jokes apart, Katmai Nationwide Park and Protect is one in all the most scenic national parks in Alaska, and a very unforgiving panorama for even its apex predators, particularly in winter. Meals is scarce, and hibernation is a should for survival. The huge weight acquire on show throughout Fats Bear Week is essential for the bears’ survival.

Grizzly bears in Katmai Nationwide Park and Protect acquire round 50% of their physique weight throughout late summer time and early fall, with a number of the largest male bears gaining 500 kilos earlier than going into hibernation.

The fat-rich salmon that runs by way of the Alaskan rivers is likely one of the quickest methods for a bear to “bulk up” for winter. Bears congregate at weak factors like Brooks Falls in Katmai for simple catching. Probably the most adept bears eat an estimated 40 salmon per day throughout peak instances (like Fats Bear Week).

Whereas male grizzly bears are typically bigger than feminine bears, the feminine bears typically edge out the males relating to Fats Bear Week votes. Feminine bears have an additional incentive to bulk up, as cubs are often born mid-hibernation.

Earlier Winners Of Fats Bear Week

4 former winners have been noticed at Brooks Falls, consuming their strategy to one other title

Fats Bear Week is getting into its tenth yr, and lots of the earlier champions are returning to defend their titles. Take a look at the highest bears returning to Brooks Falls this yr:

Beadnose was the Fats Bear Week champion in each 2015 and 2018, however has not been seen since going into hibernation after her victory in 2018. She was first recognized as a 2.5-year-old in 1999, making her practically 22 at her final sighting. The typical lifespan of grizzly bears is round 20 years outdated.

Given the advancing age of a number of of the returning champions, 2024 may be an opportunity for a brand new champion to take the trophy, as 128 Grazer was capable of do in 2023.

Fats Bear Week is likely one of the most original celebrations within the US, and a testomony to the survival of Katmai Nationwide Park and Protect’s resident grizzly bears. Fats Bear Week 2024 begins October 2, and preparations are effectively underway. The primary spherical of match-ups has been posted, and the 11 bears competing for the title have been chosen.

4 returning champions will likely be competing in Fats Bear Week this yr, together with the defending champion 128 Grazer. Champions or not, each bear at Brooks Falls is combating, and consuming, for survival. Joyful Fats Bear Week!