People can't get enough of Fat Bear Week, a week in the fall when bears get extra chunky before hibernation, and humans get to vote for their favorite...
This is Fat Bear Week, explained.
This is Fat Bear Week, explained.
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AnimalsTranscript
00:00The National Park Service hosts a vote to pick which one's the fattest, it's the
00:12chonkiest of chonks.
00:13They even have a live stream to watch the bears eat, and sliders to see how much weight
00:17the bears put on.
00:24They even have a bracket so it's like March Madness but cooler.
00:36Fat Bear Week takes place in Katmai National Park in Alaska, known for its huge brown bear
00:41population.
00:42These bears are working day and night to get fat, fat, fat for the winter.
00:52Bears hibernate from late fall into early spring, they'll pretty much stick around
00:55until all of the salmon is gone.
01:07If there's no food source and nothing for them to eat, then it's time to build a den
01:11and take a nap for the winter.
01:16Bears aren't actually true hibernators, they go into a state called torpor which is
01:20just a slowing of the heart rate and metabolism.
01:24So it would be very easy to wake a bear up if you came across their den.
01:37Bears actually give birth in the den in early spring, they will nurse and nurse their little
01:41cub until they are ready to emerge from their den.
01:52This year I'm really liking bear 32 aka chonk.
01:55It started in 2014 as a single day for Fat Bear Tuesday and is now a week long event.
02:13I'd say the most positive outcome of Fat Bear Week is kind of showing the world this pristine
02:17ecosystem that still exists in Katmai National Park.
02:20We're in Bristol Bay, it's home to hundreds of thousands of sockeye salmon and it's the
02:24last wild sustainable sockeye salmon run in the entire world.
02:28Because of these salmon it allows these bears to get so fat and healthy and happy and it's
02:33really cool to see that that place still exists.
02:36It's great to bring people to this spot even though it's virtual, to give them a place
02:40to care about.
02:49Otis is an old dude so I'm going to root for him for Fat Bear Week.