Behold the jiggles. Embrace the chunk. Name your winner. It’s #FatBearWeek
The bad news is, bear season is winding down, so sooner than later, stories like these, featuring black bears, brown bears and grizzly bears, will be fewer and farther between while these breeds go nappie-bye for a few months.
But there is a silver lining. The impending big sleep has ushered in a weeklong fat animal-ranking contest for the ages.
It’s called #FatBearWeek, and it’s hosted by the folks at Katmai National Park & Preseve in Alaska.
Since 2012, the brown bears that populate the area surrounding the Brooks River have been frequently featured on the popular Explore.org Nature cams that document all the really cool natural wonders of the world when you’re not around.
Alaskan brown bears are at their skinniest in the summer months, before sockeye salmon swim upstream to take part in their own summer spawning events, according to National Geographic. The salmon ranks are at their fullest right as these bears start getting ready to hibernate. However, no one likes to go to bed on an empty stomach, so the Fat Bear Week contestants have been stuffing themselves in recent weeks.
Fat Bear Week, in its simplest form, celebrates the “fattest bear on the river,” according to a news release from Katami National Park.
And even though it’s already started, there’s still time to get in on the March-Madness-styled bracket of fat and fluff. Two first-round matchups have already been decided in the field of what was originally 12 furry finalists.
Two more first-round matchups will be decided Thursday. The four tournament favorites were given first-round byes, and await the four first-round winners. Just like college basketball — but four times as fat.
To register your vote and with the goal of helping your favorite fatso advance to the next round, all you have to do is go to one of the matchups, which are posted separately on the Katmai National Park and Preserve Facebook page. Click “like” on the photo of the bear you think is the fatter of the two squaring off to register your vote. Read each post carefully to make sure you’re clicking “like” within the correct time frame for each matchup.
You’ll get the hang of it.
Word on the street is that Bear 747, whose belly actually touches the ground when he’s on all fours, is a clear favorite this year. But, “Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion,” as former head coach Rudy Tomjanovich said after leading his Houston Rockets to a second straight NBA title in 1995.
Especially not when Fat Bear Week 2017 champion Otis still looms in the bottom half of the bracket. “Team Otis” is strong in Katami’s Facebook comments.
#FatBearWeek continues through Oct. 9.
This story was originally published October 4, 2018 at 1:18 PM with the headline "Behold the jiggles. Embrace the chunk. Name your winner. It’s #FatBearWeek."