Day 2 of Fat Bear Week pits a scarred, powerful male against a young challenger
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.
Welcome to Fat Bear Week at Mashable! Each fall, Katmai National Park holds a competition as Alaska’s brown bears finish fattening up for their long winter hibernation. This year, Mashable is getting in on the salmon-munching action. Check back with us all week as we follow the fat bear face-offs each day, and remember to get your votes in for each round. Happy fishing!
Update Oct. 4, 2018 at 11:00 p.m. ET:
Dominant Bear 32 "Chunk" rolled past the young challenger 812, while the still-growing subadult Bear 719 defeated the fleshed-out "Chubby Cubbies."
Both winners advanced to the quarterfinals. Unfortunately for Bear 719, she now meets the extremely fat and formidable Bear 747 on Saturday.
Get ready for another day of fat brown bear face-offs.
The second day of the Fat Bear Week competition features two separate matches. The first pits Bear 32 "Chunk" -- who in 2017 was the most dominant bear in Alaska's Brooks River -- against a younger, teenage bear.
Voting via the Katmai National Park Facebook page opened at 10 a.m. ET and will be followed by voting for the day's second match at 4 p.m. ET. Winners for both are announced at 10 p.m. ET.
The aim of Fat Bear Week is to recognize the impressive growth of Alaska's brown bears as they've prepared for the long winter's hibernation. It's not about who's simply the biggest right now, but how much they've fattened up over the past four months.
Last year, a massive Bear 32, or Chunk, displaced the historically aggressive and dominant Bear 856 as the top bear of the Brooks River.
But this year, 856 has reclaimed his throne, pushing out behemoths like Chunk for the superior fishing spots.
As can be seen below, Bear 812 -- who is a younger subadult or teenage bear -- started off the summer in a rather scrawny state. But after consuming bounties of calorie-dense salmon this summer -- and even sharing fish with other subadult bears -- he's filled out.
Voting for your favorite fat bear is easy.
To vote for your choice on the Katmai Facebook page, click into the photos of each large brown bear. Click the "Like" button for whichever bear you think has grown the fattest over the course of the season.
The second showdown of the day features a match between Bear 435's chubby second-year cubs (they're sharing a spot), and Bear 719, a younger subadult bear.
Wednesday's Results
On Wednesday, former Fat Bear Week champion 409 easily handled her outmatched competitor, the male bear 151 "Walker." Based upon her impressive girth, 409 figures to be a tough competitor from here on out.
In the later match, Bear 854 "Divot" took out the much younger Bear 503 -- who has a famous history after once being adopted by another Fat Bear competitor, Bear 435, aka Holly.
503 may have been booted early this year, but he's is almost certainly a future contender.
Both bears 409 and Divot -- who previously survived a grim wire-trap that seriously threatened her survival -- have moved onto the quarterfinals. They both meet tough competitors on Friday.
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.
