A dominant mother bear in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve has been crowned Fat Bear Week’s queen of corpulence.
Bear 128, nicknamed ‘Grazer,’ received 108,321 votes in the final bracket of ‘Fat Bear Week,’ an annual competition that draws hundreds of thousands of internet users to decide who in Katmai is the fattest of the fat.
This year, 1.4 million votes were cast from 100 countries, staff at Katmai said.
Grazer, an adult who stayed single this season, beat Chunk by 85,187 votes, proving that 2023 is the year of the sow.
“The gutsy girl grounded the guy with a gut. 32 Chunk, proved his prominent posterior was worthy of a whopping win. But in the end, Chunk got Grazered,” Katmai National Park wrote on X. “Let’s crown our Queen that’s thicker than a bowl of oatmeal, 128 Grazer!”
Grazer, an 18-year-old with blond ears and light brown fur, is renowned for her dominance. So much so that even the most alpha male bears on the river give her a wide berth.
“Grazer is best known on the river as a very protective and defensive mother bear,” said Naomi Boak, a media ranger at Katmai. “When Grazer has cubs, watch out. She will attack the largest, most dominant bears on the river.”
Grazer raised two litters and is one of the best salmon fishers on the river, said Katmai Park’s website. She was introduced to Brooks River as a cub in 2005 and spends her days fishing in the pools of Brooks Falls, a 6-foot waterfall. The river is populated by rainbow trout, arctic char and salmon.
Boak, who photographs and livestreams the bears during the competition, estimates that Grazer is well over 700 or 800 pounds.
The biggest boars, like runner-up Chunk, are well over 1,200 pounds. Chunk, 18, is one of the three most dominant bears on the river, said Boak.
Fat is essential for female bears: More weight means more cubs, Boak said. But when female bears are not caring for cubs, they can dedicate themselves to self-care and feeding, Boak said.
“How great is it that when you’re single, you can just get fat and succeed? Is there anything better?” said Boak. She thinks Grazer succeeded this year because stories about the challenges of mother bears have resonated with people.
The bears of Katmai Park are preparing to hibernate from late October until March or April. Their bodies go into a state of hyperphasia, which means the hormone that tells them they are full stops working, said Boak.
“Fat Bear Week’started when Mike Fitz, the resident naturalist for explore.org, decided that there should be a “Fat Bear Tuesday” to celebrate the bears at Katmai gaining weight, said Boak. It was so successful that Fitz decided to turn the day into a weeklong bracketed competition the following year in 2015.
Although Brooks Camp, the bears’ habitat, is remote and inaccessible by road, 10 million people tuned in to the “bear cams” on Explore.org last year, said Boak. The bear cams livestream from 7 different locations around Brooks Falls.
A 2019 survey of viewers of the Katmai Park’s bear cams revealed that those who could identify individual bears were much more likely to support conservation programs.
“When you watch the bear cams, you’re watching five soap operas a day,” said Boak. “Will Grazer come back with cubs? Will the big boars have to keep eye out for her?”
To enter the ‘Fat Bear Week’ bracket, bears need to show up in the Spring while they are skinny, then come back in the Fall when they are fattening up, said Boak.
“The females look smaller and skinnier at the beginning of the season than the male bears do,” said Boak, who thinks that contrast is one of the reasons why Grazer won this year.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
