The internet's beloved Fat Bear Week returns after deadly attack delayed reveal

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The internet's beloved Fat Bear Week returns after deadly attack delayed reveal

时间：2024-10-03 06:55 来源：未知作者：admin 阅读：次

By Elissa Steedman

Topic:Animals

Holly was Katmai's 2019 Fat Bear Week champion.

Alaska's brown bears are putting the finishing touches on their winter bodies as one of the internet's favourite animal-themed polls returns.

For one week, Katmai Park's portly residents will go head-to-head in pursuit of the title of fattest bear.

Here's everything you need to know about this year's edition of Fat Bear Week.

What is Fat Bear Week?

It's a celebration of Alaska's rotund brown bears ahead of their hibernation season.

The annual event has gained fans across the world, with past champions becoming particular favourites of followers.

With the warmth of summer now faded, the bears of Katmai National Park are about to head into hibernation for the Northern Hemisphere's winter.

To survive the cold months inside their dens with little food or water, the bears have been adding to their body fat reserves by gorging on salmon since late June.

Rangers have been documenting their bodybuilding efforts since June with video cameras set up along the Brooks River, where the bears hunt for salmon.

Now, it's time to decide who had their most successful season.

The national park's chunkiest residents from the season have been sorted into tournament-style brackets.

Each day, polls will go live on the Fat Bear Week website, with voters deciding which bear emerges from the bracket as victor and who returns to their dens empty-pawed.

We've already had a warm-up round for Katmai's younger residents, Fat Bear Junior.

Fan favourite 909 Jr, who had previously won the category for chubby cubbies in 2022, took the crown again this year.

When is Fat Bear Week?

This year's event will run from October 2 to October 8.

That means in Australia, the first day will kick off in the early hours of October 3.

Voting will be open during the morning hours for Australian fans.

Here are the exact times:

AWST: 12am to 9am
ACST: 1:30am to 10:30am
AEST: 2am to 11am

Voting for each round will be held on the explore.org website.

Click here to head to the poll's homepage

12 bears will be vying to win this year's coveted crown.

Which bears have been nominated?

There are 12 bears competing in this year's tournament.

Here's the list:

32 "Chunk"
128 "Grazer" (previous winner in 2023)
151 "Walker"
164
504
519
747 (previous winner in 2022 and 2020)
856
901
903
909
909 Jr

The competitors were due to be revealed on Monday, but were delayed after a deadly attack was caught on one of the park's live feeds.

469, an adult male bear also known as Patches, was seen approaching an older female, 402 in the Brooks River on Monday.

He then attacked and killed her.

"National parks like Katmai protect not only the wonders of nature, but also the harsh realities," park officials said in a statement after bear 402's death.

"Each bear seen on the webcams is competing with others to survive."

Mike Fritz, a resident naturalist at Explore.org which hosts the live stream, said 402 "likely died by drowning".

"We love to celebrate the success of bears with full stomachs and ample body fat," he said.

"But the ferocity of bears is real, the risks that they face are real, their lives can be hard and their deaths can be painful."

How big do the bears get?

Every bear is different, but the average male adult can start the season at about 300 kilograms and end it at a hefty 500kg.

Rangers say the bulkiest and most successful bears can catch and eat up to 30 salmon each day.

That equates to about 55kg of fish in a 24-hour period.

What is the point of Fat Bear Week?

It's mostly just a bit of fun.

The competition started as Fat Bear Tuesday in 2014 as a way for fans to engage with the park.

Rangers got the idea after a webcam viewer shared a screenshots of one bear's ample transformation.

And when the single-day vote was a resounding success, the competition evolved into the week-long poll we now know and love.

Brown bear Otis has been crowned fattest of the fat four times.

Since 2020, an annual fundraiser is also held at the end of Fat Bear Week to raise money for the Otis Fund.

The Katmai Conservancy says donations raised allow them to support education and engagement programs, as well as provide funding for research on Katmai's brown bears and human history.

The Otis Fund is named after the beloved four-time Fat Bear Week champion 480 Otis.

Was there a Fat Bear Week controversy?

The ballots were stuffed.

In 2022, organisers detected unusual voting activity in the semi final round between previous champion Holly and Bear 747.

Holly initially appeared to have beaten her foe but an investigation revealed she had been launched to victory with 9,000 votes received in a short period.

"Like bears stuff their face with fish, our ballot box, too, has been stuffed," the national park tweeted.

"It appears someone has decided to spam the Fat Bear Week poll, but fortunately it is easy for us to tell which votes are fraudulent."

After removing the fake votes, officials found 747 won with 37,940 votes to Holly's 30,430.

By：https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-10-03/fat-bear-week-returns-2024/104319754

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