Want to know about a supremely unique competition that’s about to start? Well, we are talking about the legendary Fat Bear Week 2020! Scroll down to know all about it. By Kumar Shree
The Katmai National Park is home to some of the most beautiful forests, mountains, lakes and furry bears. This place hosts one of the most intriguing competitions in the world called the Fat Bear Week wherein the fattest bear in Brooks River gets awarded. The competition started yesterday and in about a week’s time, we will find out who took the award for 2020!
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Every year, the Katmai National Park releases the names, numbers and photos of these bears for the competition. People can then vote for their favourite bears. The competition takes places in an elimination format, where the bear with lowest votes in each round drops out. Other bears with higher votes proceed to the next round. The process repeats until there’s an ultimate winner.
Now, if you’re scratching your head as to why these bears get an award for being overweight, which is considered unhealthy, allow us to answer your query. For bears, it is a healthy thing to gain weight, since they go into months-long hibernation during the winter season. The excess body fat indicates good health for a bear. It suggests that they will have a better chance of survival during the winter months. Bears accumulate this weight from June to mid-October, that’s why the competition occurs during this time of the year.
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As many as 2,000 bears reside in the Katmai National Park. They can weigh anywhere between 600 pounds to 900 pounds. These bears can eat up to 90 pounds of food every day to prepare for their winter hibernation, which can go as long as six months. That’s when this excess fat helps them. The Brooks River in Katmai National Park is full of sockeye salmon fish, which is one of the favourite foods. Bears also like to feed upon other small mammals, berries, flowers and herbs.
We are pretty excited to find out who emerges as the winner of Fat Bear Week 2020.
P.S – Holly is 2019’s defending champion.
Related: Meet The Endangered Ethiopian Wolf At Bale Mountains National Park
