The Fattest Bear in Alaska

The votes had been counted. A winner had been chosen. It was official: Holly was the fattest bear in Alaska’s Katmai National Park.

More than 187,000 people voted last October in the park’s annual Fat Bear Week contest. Voters decided which brown bear had gained the most weight over the summer and fall. Holly beat out 11 other bears to become the chubby champion of 2019.

In the weeks before the contest, bears like Holly caught slippery fish in their powerful paws and chomped down with their mighty jaws. The bears each gobbled up about 30 salmon every day, which caused the bears to blow up like furry balloons.

Why do they do this? Packing on pounds before winter helps bears survive.

When the cold Alaskan winter hits, the bears’ food supplies disappear. The streams where tasty salmon swim freeze. So do the berries that bears snack on.

To survive this harsh winter, the bears go into hibernation. That’s a kind of deep sleep that keeps them alive when food is hard to find. Many other animals hibernate during the winter, including bats and hedgehogs.

Snuggled up in their dens, the bears will not eat, drink, pee, or poop for months. While these plump bears snooze, their bodies use their extra fat to stay healthy and warm during winter.

Now that it’s spring, Holly soon will be crawling out of her den. She’ll no longer be a hulking ball of fur. She will have burned up much of her fat while she slept. She’ll be a bony bear with a big appetite. It’ll be time for her to start bulking up again for another winter—and defend her title as the fattest bear in Katmai.