Fat Bear Week
Fat Bear Week in Katmai National Park & Preserve in coastal southwest Alaska saw a record 1.4 million online votes this past week, with a dominant mama bear named Grazer winning the competition.
The annual contest is designed to celebrate the bears who are drawn to the sockeye salmon in Katmai's Brooks River from late June through September. These brown bears hole up in dens each winter where they will not eat or drink until spring, losing roughly one-third of their body weight as they rely on their fat reserves to get them through hibernation. Their survival through the winter depends on their ability to eat one year's worth of food in six months.
Fat Bear Week typically begins with an online announcement of the bears who are in the running and concludes with an announcement of the winning bear. Park rangers create a single-elimination tournament-style bracket that pits bears against one another through the week until the list narrows to a winner. This year's contenders included the following:
128 Grazer: The 2023 winner -- a large adult female with a long, straight muzzle, and blond ears. During late summer and fall, Grazer has grizzled, light brown fur and is often one of the fattest bears of Brooks River, where many of the Katmai bears feed.
32 Chunk: A large adult male with narrowly set eyes, a prominent brow ridge, and a distinctive scar across his muzzle.
151 Walker: A large adult male, he’s a frequent user of Brooks Falls and often has easy access to productive fishing spots because of his size and disposition.
164 Bucky Dent: A medium-sized adult male, he created his own fishing spot at the very base of Brooks Falls at the edge of the deepest plunge pool, a place other bears seldom use.
284 Electra: She’s a medium-sized adult with perky ears, a long neck, and prominent shoulder hump. She’ll fish the lower river and has two known litters of cubs, whom she fiercely protects.
402 Bear: A large adult female with medium brown fur and crescent- or apostrophe-shaped ears when viewed from front or back. Her claim to fame: Eight known litters, the most of any bear currently at Brooks River.
428 Bear: A pudgy, 3.5-year-old subadult bear with blond ears and grizzled, light brown fur. As an independent bear in 2023, she’s navigated the river without her mama’s guidance for the first time.
435 Holly: A large adult female with blond ears and pale, tan-colored claws. By early autumn, she is usually very fat with grizzled blond fur. She’s a remarkable mom, having raised one injured cub and adopting another cub years later. She’s currently a single bear.
480 Otis: A medium-large adult male with a blocky muzzle and a floppy right ear. Otis was 4 to 6 years old when he was first identified in 2001, and he’s now one of the older male bears at Brooks River.
747 Bear: The 2022 winner -- a large adult male with a blocky muzzle and floppy ears. He has become a giant among bears, once estimated to weigh 1,400 pounds (635 kilograms).
901 Bear: A medium-sized adult female with blond-rimmed, triangular ears. 901’s fur is golden brown in early summer and grizzled-brown in late summer. One of her three cubs disappeared in mid-September.
806 Jr.: A male first-year cub with long, shaggy brown fur and a short, pointed muzzle. This feisty club fishes with mom (806), and on several occasions this year was swept downstream or over the waterfall.
The easiest way to watch the bears is to tune in to the Katmai National Park Nature Cams. And when you do, keep in mind these words from Job 12:
7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish in the sea inform you.
9 Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all humankind."
Do you believe that God holds the breath of every creature in his hand? What creatures will you listen to this week?