All hail 128 Grazer! The burliest of bears. The chonkiest of the chunks. The deserving champion of Fat Bear Week 2023. Grazer defeated 32 Chunk in a heavyweight contest between two bulky, salmon-stuffed behemoths. In the end, it wasn’t even close. Grazer steamrolled Chunk with over four times the number of votes.
Fat Bear Week is an homage to hibernation preparation. It celebrates the fatness of the brown bears living in Katmai National Park in Alaska. Surviving the long, cold winter ahead means packing on the pounds by feasting on salmon in the Brooks River. Fat Bear Week partner Explore.org operates a series of live cams that lets the world peek in on the bears as they jostle for the best fishing spots, snag sockeyes and let the calories fly.
The roly-poly bears are cute and pudgy, but this is serious business. “Each winter, bears enter the den where they will not eat or drink until they emerge in spring. During this time, they may lose up to one-third of their body weight as they rely solely on their fat reserves. Survival depends on eating a year’s worth of food in six months,” said the National Park Service.
Both Chunk (an adult male) and Grazer (an adult female) have top-notch fishing skills and the ability to successfully compete for resources. Grazer is an experienced mom known for actively defending her cubs. Explore.org even has a greatest-hits compilation video of Grazer putting other bears in their places. That’s how seriously Grazer takes her role as a mom.
Grazer didn’t have cubs in tow this year, which meant she could pack on the pounds without having to spend energy on little ones. Other bears remembered her protective mom behavior from previous years and gave her plenty of space on the river. “Grazer’s combination of skill and toughness makes her one of Brooks River’s most formidable, successful and adaptable bears,” said Explore.org.
Fat Bear Week voting started on October 4 in a single-elimination tournament format. Voluptuous bears went head to head until only two were left for the final vote on Tuesday. The finalists weren’t a big surprise. Both were considered favorites at the start of the contest. Chunk was runner-up for Fat Bear Week 2020 while Grazer astounded wildlife watchers with her impressive girth.
The pre-hibernation fat-bear celebration first appeared back in 2014 as Fat Bear Tuesday. It was an instant hit and transformed into the full Fat Bear Week in 2015. Over a million votes poured in during the 2022 contest. The 2023 edition eclipsed that with nearly 1.4 million votes.
The competition is a social media powerhouse as bear fans share their love of their favorites. Grazer’s tough personality and lovable rolls helped push her to victory.
Fat Bear Week is about raising awareness of wildlife and the ecosystem in Katmai National Park. Sockeye salmon are still abundant in Brooks River, but their kin in other places haven’t fared as well. “Sockeye salmon are vulnerable to many stressors and threats including blocked access to spawning grounds and habitat degradation caused by dams and culverts,” said the National Marine Fisheries Service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Grazer may wear the crown, but all the fat bears are winners. They’ve stuffed themselves to the point where they can roll into their dens and snooze off their fat stores for months. Is it too early to start thinking about 2024 Fat Bear Week favorites? We could be in for a rematch of beefy bear beauties.
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