The fat bear cams are back, baby
It's the happiest time of the year — Fat Bear Week! This year's event takes place from Sept. 23-30, and Mashable will be following all the ursine activity. Katmai National Park and Preserve’s brown bears (also known as grizzly bears) spent the summer gorging on 4,500-calorie salmon, and they've transformed into rotund giants, some weighing more than 1,000 pounds. So, the Alaskan park is once again hosting its beloved annual competition to crown the fattest of the fat bears.
They're back.
The wildlife streamers explore.org officially turned on the Alaskan brown bear cams on Monday, June 14. The cameras, situated along the salmon-rich Brooks River in Katmai National Park and Preserve, film the internet-famous bears fishing, fighting, sleeping, playing, and beyond throughout the summer and fall.
Bear activity usually ramps up in July, when salmon begin migrating up the river. Here's what to expect when tuning into the bear cams, which are beamed from a remote, mostly roadless part of Alaska, to people globally:
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July: The salmon run up the Brooks River kicks off in early July, and the bears start to congregate at the river to devour fat, 4,500-calorie sockeye salmon. It's an exciting, phenomenal scene.
August: Often the Brooks River and bear cams quiet down in August, as the bears leave to capitalize on other fishing opportunities (the Brooks River salmon run can dwindle by late July). Though during the big salmon run years of late, many bears still stick around, even in August.
September: The bears, now often filled-out and rotund, return to the Brooks River (and bear cams) in great numbers to feast on dead and dying salmon. The winter looms large.
October: The bears continue to eat and start to hibernate. The park holds its annual Fat Bear Week contest, which celebrates the wildness and success of the impressively fat bears.
November: The callous Alaskan winter sets in, and the bears hibernate until early spring. The solar-powered bear cams, running low on sunlight, stop transmitting.
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The bear cams bring many intriguing 2021 storylines:
Will bear 856 — who has long been the dominant bear of the Brooks River — keep his spot atop the competitive bear hierarchy?
Will some of the river's oldest, most well-known bears, like bear 480 "Otis," return to the river for another summer?
How will the young cubs have fared? Will many have survived hibernation to return to the river? Some already have.
Who will win the Fat Bear Week competition in 2021? This guy?
SEE ALSO: The real winner of Fat Bear Week
There are five cameras mounted along the relatively short, 1.5-mile Brooks River (and one underwater). We'll be watching. Will you?
Topics Animals
Mark was the science editor at Mashable. After working as a ranger with the National Park Service, he started a reporting career after seeing the extraordinary value in educating people about the happenings on Earth, and beyond.
He's descended 2,500 feet into the ocean depths in search of the sixgill shark, ventured into the halls of top R&D laboratories, and interviewed some of the most fascinating scientists in the world.
