It’s Fat Bear Week and you decide who will be crowned Alaska’s chonkiest champ

Your oasis of pleasure for 2021 has arrived. It is Fat Bear Week, and which means it is time to experience views of chunky, hunky brown bears whereas serving to to decide on a winner. Solely the plumpest and paunchiest bear will emerge victorious. Your vote issues.

Fats Bear Week is a joint effort from Katmai National Park & Preserve in Alaska and nature livecam website Explore.org. It raises consciousness of the park’s bears and celebrates how they gorge on salmon and pack on the kilos to outlive their winter hibernation.

This 12 months’s contest runs from Wednesday by Oct. 5. You’ll be able to vote on the Fat Bear Week site within the head-to-head (or bulge-to-bulge) matchups. Voting stays open between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. PT every day. 

You’ll be able to select your champ based mostly merely on which bear seems the fattest, or you’ll be able to keep in mind different elements, like how mom bears should feed themselves and their cubs and subsequently won’t get as chonky as a few of the different bears.

Wednesday’s vote pits 2019 champion 435 Holly, the “Queen of Corpulence,” in opposition to 128 Grazer, “the dominant doyen of the falls.” The second matchup is between “husky hunk” 634 Popeye and the bountifully bellied 151 Walker. Earlier than and after photographs present simply how a lot bulk every bear has placed on throughout the 12 months.

To not sway your vote, however each Grazer and Walker look fantastically plump this 12 months. You should definitely read the bear bios to study their backgrounds and determine your favorites from among the many rivals. For reside views of the beasties getting their salmon feasties, take a look at Explore.org’s Brooks River livestreams.

Last year’s winner was absolute unit 747, recognized to his adoring followers as “Bear Power One.” He is again once more and able to battle for his crown with an estimated weight of greater than 1,400 kilos (635 kilograms).

Each pound of pudge issues in the case of the lengthy winter forward. Although one bear will reign supreme on the finish of the week, each fats bear is already a winner.