We have a winner! This year’s Fat Bear Week came to a close on October 8th. A female bear named Holly was crowned champion.
Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve started the event five years ago. From October 2 through 9, visitors to the park’s Facebook page are delighted with pictures of chubby bears. Two bears go head-to-head each day, and visitors vote on which one they think is the heaviest. Over the course of this year’s competition, a total of 187,000 votes were cast! The park announced the 2019 winner on their Facebook page with this celebratory post: "She is fat. She is fabulous. All hail Holly whose healthy heft will help her hibernate until the spring. Long live the Queen of Corpulence." Holly beat out 11 other bears to win her title.
Holly’s heft is no accident. She and the other bears in Katmai National Park eat as much as they can throughout the summer and fall before going into hibernation for the winter. If they don’t gain enough weight, they may not survive until spring. They need to gobble up enough food to increase their weight by at least 30 percent over the summer and fall.
By the start of winter, male bears can weigh over 1,000 pounds and female bears upwards of 600 pounds. We don’t know exactly how much weight Holly gained this year, but by the looks of it, it was a lot!