Fat Bear Junior Week Is Here

The only affair better than a bear is afat bear , and the only thing better than a fertile bear is a fatty bear young carnivore . That ’s why I ’m stoked to herald that mighty now , fat bear cubs are presently having a bit . Welcome to the first - everFat Bear Junior competition .

Every fall , the National Park Service hold Fat Bear Week to allow hoi polloi vote for the chunkiest dark-brown bear at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska . It ’s a way to honour the month that bear drop work up up their body avoirdupois to ready for hibernation . Fat Bear Week is always the secure sentence of yr . And in 2021 , it ’s even better because of a little spinoff competition happening now as a warm - up .

Bear cubs are go head - to - capitulum for a hazard to be dub the fattest baby bear of the Brooks River . ( “ Baby ” is relative here , of course . ) The interest are high , because the winner will infix the grownup angle bracket , which commence next Wednesday . That ’s veracious — one greenhorn will go up against the grown bears . Since voting began on Thursday , two bear cubs have already been eliminated , and the crown are only open until Friday at 9 p.m. ET , sohead over , fast !

Image: National Park Service, C. Spencer, L. Law, N. Boak

I ’d be remiss if I did n’t acquaint you to the charming contestants , who deliver — sorry , bare — the names of their moms , 132 and 128 . First , there ’s Bear 132 ’s fountain cub , who appeared in aviral video earlier this monthand is one of two outlast members of a three - cub bedding material who read up to the Brooks River in July . He ’s a real charmer who has spent clock time around masses , because Bear 132 convey her kids near the visitant to Katmai ’s Brooks Lodge . He ’s make a grown mat of chocolately pelt and a opulent , sagging stomach .

Then , there ’s 128 yearling . She has a twin baby and thick , blondish fur . She ’s a fleck precocious : She learned to captivate her own Salmon River from the Brooks waterfall in Katmai National Park . The NPS observe , with sound like a bit of Katmai pride , that “ No other yearling bear in remembering of park stave has successfully and on a regular basis caught fish on the back talk of Brooks Falls . ”

you could learn more about them bothon the park ’s websiteand appear for them on Explore.org’slive bear cams . There ’s no agency to make a wrong choice : The contest is immanent , and officials say you may base your decision on basically whatever you require . Just check that to get your vote in before polls close !

Image: Explore.org, National Park Service & Katmai Conservancy