For the second year in a row, a brown bear named 128 Grazer won the Fat Bear Contest at Alaska’s Katmai national park and preserve – she also got her revenge.
This summer a behemoth male killed her cub. On Tuesday, Grazer beat the bear, who is named Chunk, by more than 40,000 votes cast by fans watching live cameras at explore.org of the preserve.
The seven-day event is described as a “celebration of success” in which fans cast votes online for their favorite chunky competitor in tournament-style brackets that begin with 12 bears. They pick the bear they believe best exemplifies winter preparedness by the fat they have accumulated over the summer feeding on the sockeye salmon that return to Brooks River – home to some of the largest brown bears in the world – as they ready themselves for hibernation.
The bears often perch at the top of a waterfall in the river, grabbing leaping salmon out of the air as the fish attempt to hurdle the falls to spawn upstream.
This is where Grazer’s cub died after it slipped over the waterfall and was killed by Chunk, perhaps the most dominant brown bear on the river. Grazer fought Chunk in an effort to save the cub, but it later died. The death was captured on the live cameras.
Another death was captured live by the cameras just last week, delaying the release of the tournament bracket for a day. Bear 402, a female bear that was supposed to be a contestant in this year’s tournament, was killed by a male brown bear the day the brackets were expected to be released.
Grazer has “conspicuously” blond ears and a long, straight muzzle, according to her bio page at explore.org. “She is a formidable presence on Brooks River. Her fearlessness and strength have earned her respect, with most bears avoiding confrontation,” it says.
“This elevates Grazer’s rank in the bear hierarchy above almost all bears except for the largest males,” according to her bio. The almost 20-year-old bear is raising her third litter.
Her other surviving cub from her third litter placed second two weeks ago in the Fat Bear Junior contest.
Chunk is perhaps the largest bear on the river, with narrow-set eyes, dark brown fur and a distinctive scar across his muzzle, his bio says. He used his size to rise to the top of the river hierarchy this year and secured the prime fishing spots.
“Chunk’s confidence and aggression paid off, allowing him to feast on 42 salmon in 10 hours,” it says. “His physical success is evident in his bulky form.”
Chuck is estimated to weigh more than 1,200lb (544kg) and was first spotted in 2007 when he was two and a half.
Adult male brown bears typically weigh 600 to 900lb (about 270 to 410kg) in mid-summer. By the time they are ready to hibernate after feasting on migrating and spawning salmon – each eats as many as 30 fish per day – large males can weigh well over 1,000lb (454kg). Females are about one-third smaller.
The annual contest, which drew more than 1.3m votes last year, is a way to celebrate the resiliency of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve on the Alaska Peninsula, which extends from the state’s south-west corner toward the Aleutian Islands.
In addition to the live cameras, Katmai has become a bucket list tourist destination and viewing stands have been built on the river to allow people to watch the brown bears fish for salmon.
