It’s that time of year again: Fat Bear Week is back for its 10th season.
In case you’re new to the quirky festivities, Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve puts on an annual competition for its particularly burly bears after they’ve spent the summer bulking up in preparation for winter hibernation. The popular event also celebrates “the nourishing ecosystem in which the bears thrive,” says the National Park Service.
To give you an idea of how fat we're talking. Take a look at Holly; she's bear number 435. And, after weeks of hard work meticulously combing the waters of the Brooks River in Alaska’s Katmai National Park, and gorging herself on thousands of pounds of sockeye salmon, Holly was named the winner of the 2019 Fat Bear Week contest.
Interested players can fill out a bracket (much like March Madness) and vote in a series of matchups to find the bear who “best exemplifies fatness and success.” The winning bears in each matchup move on to the next round, and the last one standing is crowned the chunkiest of them all.
Ready to weigh in? Meet the contenders and download your voting bracket.
Alternatively, you can sit back and admire the chunky participants by watching the participants on Explore.org’s wildlife cams.