Vote for the fattest bear in Alaska Posted on 7 October 2019 Tags:Alaska, brown bear, USA Alaskan’s are known for some unusual contests including the annual reindeer race at the Rondy Festival in Anchorage and the ear pull competition (to test contestants ability to withstand pain) at the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics, held in Fairbanks. Another irregular competition is the Fat Bear Week run by Alaska’s Katmai National Park & Preserve to find the jiggliest brown bear to visit the park’s Brook’s River. The park explains that’s not about fat shaming but rather a celebration, ‘in brown bears, large amounts of body fat are indicative of good health and strong chances of survival. The bears need stores of fat to help them survive hibernation, which can last for up to half of the year’ ‘Over the course of winter hibernation in the den, a bear could lose up to one third of its body mass. In preparation, this time of year the bears are entering hyperphagia, a state in which they eat nearly non-stop.’ It’s a knock-out style competition that pits commonly seen bears on the Bear Cam against one another on the park’s Facebook page to decide which bear indeed, looks the fattest. Photos of four bears are posted each day and the bear whose photo receives the most likes advances to the next round, until one bear is crowned ‘Fattest Bear’ on Fat Bear Tuesday, 8 October. If you’d like to have your say on who the heftiest contender is visit facebook.com/KatmaiNPP Related Posts The Lady in the Landy: Carla Geyser 7 February 2023 "We cannot sit back and wait for a miracle to happen; every one of us... read more 88 countries agree on shark fin regulation in historic vote 22 November 2022 Panama was host to CITES in November 2022. For the first time in history, 88... read more The big question after Plett’s fatal shark attack: Why? 27 September 2022 By now, we know that sharks are not the mindless killing machines that horror movies... read more PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE
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