NEWS RELEASES
Online Fans Vote For Fattest Bear At Katmai National Park
Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through The US National Park Service's website.
KING SALMON, Alaska – Katmai National Park & Preserve, home to one of the world’s highest concentrations of brown bears, announced the winner of its annual Fattest Bear contest. Beadnose, also known as Bear 409, was voted the tubbiest on the tundra by online fans from around the world during the annual Fat Bear Week which concluded Oct. 9, 2018. The contest, conducted annually since 2012, has become a favorite on the park’s social media.
Katmai’s bears have become media darlings due to their appearances on the park’s popular Bear Cam which shows the bruins feasting on sockeye salmon in the Brooks River, where the biggest, most dominant brown bears go to fish. The 24-hour live stream, available at explore.org/bears, also offers several other cams which show the locations of where brown bears who cannot compete at Brooks, including mothers with cubs, go to feed.
Building body weight is important to the bears who must survive six months of hibernation and emerge ready to breed. See before and after pictures of this year’s top contenders on the Katmai Facebook page.