Fat Bear Week: The biggest, baddest bears of Katmai

Voting is now officially open in the 2023 Fat Bear Week competition, celebrating the capability of brown bears to pack on weight for their hibernation cycle in Alaska. To do that, they must ingurgitate tons of fish — and luckily, they live near a thriving sockeye salmon run.

" Basically those fat stores have to keep them healthy from late October till June," when the salmon return to the Brooks River, media ranger Naomi Boak of Katmai National Park and save, tol NPR.

" We've some of the largest bears on the earth," Boak said." The big boars, the biggest guys, can get to be between 1,000 and 1,400 pounds."

But it's not just about the guys. womanish brown bears also pack on massive heft, and they do it while raising cubs.

The 12 brown bears are placed into a type, and choosers decide who advances from each tourney. Voting runs fromOct. 4- 10. You can cast votes from noon ET to 9p.m. ET.

" You can follow the bears for times and really get to know their lives and their personalities and their cleaner operas," Boak said.

" We really love that children and preceptors follow the bears,"

The contest — and yes, we're apprehensive the rivals are refreshingly unconscious, being bears might feel simple. Just pick the most rotund bear, right?

But numerous choosers frequently give redundant credit to any bear that dramatically went from a haggard, wasted critter in the spring to a portly sovereign of the swash in October. And some bears just gain suckers with their tricks and particular stories.

suckers of 128 Grazer, known for her big golden cognizance, are hoping this is her time. She's a recent empty- nester having successfully raised two sets of cubs, she's been suitable to concentrate on herself.

" She has been putting in the work," ranger Felicia Jimenez said as the 2023 type was unveiled." She was relatively dainty in early summer, but now she's huge."

Grazer also has a partiality for preemptively attacking huge males to cover her seed, so numerous of her manly rivals gave her a wide situation this summer — including 151 Walker, her first opponent in the type.

also there's 32 knob. The bear has always been large, but now he is gone from being sportful and a bit unusual to fighting for dominance.

" This 18- time-old boar is a light bulb shaped, Leviathan of a bear," Boak said.

" He is such a fun bear to watch," said Mike Fitz, a former ranger at the demesne who's on the board of the Katmai Conservancy, praising Chunk's individuality.

also there are imperishable contenders like the once titleholders 747, 480 Otis and 435 Holly. On the other end of the scale( literally) is 806Jr., the cub who won Fat Bear Junior 2023.

" Once bears enter hyperphagia in late summer, Leptin, the chemical that tells the body it's full, is suppressed," according to the Department of the Interior." This allows bears to eat until it's time to sleep."

In people, hyperphagia is treated as a complaint —" the extreme unsatisfied drive to consume food," as one scientific paper puts it. In bears, the condition is a survival tactic, as they prepare to go without food for months

" The record that we have observed is, 480 Otis, who is one of our oldest bears and four- time Fat Bear Week champion, has eaten 42 salmon in 5 and a half hours," Boak said.

The summer glut is alo when youthful bears bulk over, to ultimately reach adult size.

" Cubs are born at 1 pound and at the end of their first time, they could be 70 pounds," Boak said." And in their alternate time they can end the season at 200 pounds."

" Brooks River is only a afar and a half long, and Katmai is further than 4 million acres," Fitz told NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday." This is one of the largest public premises . It's larger than any that you are going to find in the conterminous United States."

Winter is coming, but first, it’s the most bear- lliant time of the time. Fat Bear Weekis then, and it’s time to pick your favorite knob!

After dodging the government arrestment that could have disintegrated Fat Bear Week, an periodic festivity of bears bulking up for hibernation, it's now time to relax and join the March Madness- styl showdown.

suckers can now bounce for their favorite hefty bear in the periodic Katmai National Park & save contest celebrating Alaska's brown bears as they bulk over for downtime survival.

With well- known bears like Chunk, Holly, and 747 back in the competition, it's anyone's conjecture who'll be this time's victor.

Last time, over 1 million votes poured in from around the world. The culminated champion, 747, affectionately known as Bear Force One, sloped the scales at a hefty 1,400 pounds, securing over 37,900 votes.

But that palm came with some contestation after the competition faced a libelous incident of namer fraud. So let’s stopgap this time we get a clean election.

“ Fat Bear Week is a festivity of success and survival. It's a way to celebrate the adaptability, rigidity and strength of Katmai’s brown bears. Bears are matched against each other in a event- style competition, and online callers can bounce on which bear is eventually culminated the Fat Bear Week 2023 Champion, ” the demesne writes.

While there are a aggregate of 12 rivals, we'd like you to meet Scripps News' pets in the 2023 lineup

knob A veritably large boy! He was ranked before this time among Brooks River’s “ largest and most dominant ” males.

128 Grazer A Momma Bear Extraordinaire who is not just a regular mama , but a mammy! With two litters of lovable cubs under her belt, she's earned her title as the undisputed single mama at the demesne because no manly bear dares to mess with her.

747 Bear Force One 2022 Fat Bear Week Champion, and while his bitsy droopy cognizance are lovable , he’s an absolute unit and weighs roughly 1,400 lbs. Park officers say he's over 20 times of age.

435 Holly A veritably, veritably chunky( natural blond) girl. She’s best known for espousing a lone cub into her family and raising it as her own. She’s now considered one of the most eligible bachelorettes among the bears at Brooks River.