A “gutsy” brown bear described as “thicker than a bowl of oatmeal” has been topped the champion of Alaska’s annual Fats Bear Week competitors.
Bear 128, nicknamed Grazer, thrashed her aptly named rival, Chunk, to assert victory within the annual contest.
The dominant mom bear is one among an estimated 2,200 brown bears dwelling in Katmai Nationwide Park and Protect in Alaska.
Grazer, who has efficiently raised two litters of cubs, has been recognized to problem alpha males in a bid to guard her infants.
Described as one of many fattest bears to gather salmon on the Brooks river, she has been hailed as “among the finest anglers” by park officers on account of her means to catch fish – even chasing down fleeing prey.
The Fats Bear Week event sees folks from 100 completely different nations vote on-line for his or her favorite bear.
Greater than 1.3 million votes – a record-breaking quantity for the competition – had been forged by devoted followers within the battle of the brown bears, with Grazer accounting for 108,321 within the closing.
Sharing the information that Grazer had entered the Fats Bear Week “Corridor of Chompions”, Katmai Nationwide Park posted on Fb: “The gutsy woman grounded the man with a intestine.
“The Mondo mountain of a male, 32 Chunk, proved his outstanding posterior was worthy of a whopping win.
“However ultimately, Chunk bought Grazered!
“Let’s crown our queen that is thicker than a bowl of oatmeal, 128 Grazer!”
The park provided its commiserations to the runner-up, including: “Chin-up Chunk!”
The bears packed on the kilos to outlive winter hibernation, with the park declaring all of the contenders had been winners.
“Although [Grazer] could also be blissfully unaware of her new title on this imaginary competitors, her success is actual!
“Within the bear world, fats equals success,” organisers stated.
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The bears dwelling in Katmai will hibernate from late October till the spring, with their our bodies going right into a state of hyperphasia, which implies the hormone that tells them they’re full stops working, ranger Naomi Boak instructed Sky Information’ US accomplice, NBC Information.
The annual competitors is the brainchild of naturalist Mike Fitz, who determined there needs to be a Fats Bear Tuesday to rejoice the bears as they acquire weight in 2014.
The thought proved so standard it spawned an annual week-long contest, which started the next yr.