Fat Bear Week Winner: Otis Takes Title for 4th Time

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U.S.|Fat Bear Week: 480 Otis Takes Title for 4th Time

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/06/us/fat-bear-week-winner.html

The brownish carnivore was named the victor of the yearly contention successful which radical ballot for their favourite chunky carnivore astatine Katmai National Park and Preserve successful Alaska.

480 Otis, pictured past  month, has been named the victor  of this year’s Fat Bear Week, an yearly  contention   tally  by Katmai National Park and Preserve successful  Alaska.
Credit...Katmai National Park and Preserve

Johnny Diaz

Oct. 6, 2021, 8:18 a.m. ET

Move implicit Bear 747. In the conflict of the bulkiest carnivore successful Alaska, there’s a caller heavyweight champion astatine Katmai National Park and Preserve.

On Tuesday night, 480 Otis was declared the victor of Fat Bear Week, an online contention that celebrates the bears’ pre-hibernation value summation from precocious June to October, drafting hundreds of thousands of votes from carnivore buffs.

The radical person spoken! The portly patriarch of paunch persevered to pulverize the Baron of Beardonkadonk successful the last lucifer of #FatBearWeek 2021. 480 Otis tin present boast a bevy of bests w/ this 4th 1st spot finish. As we celebrate, similar a existent champ 480 is inactive chowing down. pic.twitter.com/rLvm7pvGJW

— Katmai National Park (@KatmaiNPS) October 6, 2021

At much than 25 years old, Otis is 1 of the older bears astatine the park, which encompasses astir 4.1 cardinal acres successful southwest Alaska and is location to astir 2,200 brownish bears.

Otis is present a four-time champion, having won the inaugural contest, successful 2014, arsenic good arsenic successful 2016 and 2017. This year, Otis earned 51,230 votes successful the last circular to bushed carnivore 151 Walker’s 44,834 votes. Nearly 800,000 votes were formed successful the weeklong contest, which featured 12 bears.

“Bears are fascinating animals and pb challenging lives, and I deliberation radical are blessed to observe their occurrence each season,” said Amber Kraft, a spokeswoman for the park.

The contention began successful 2014 arsenic Fat Bear Tuesday and expanded into a weeklong contention the pursuing twelvemonth to observe the bears’ palmy value gains aft gorging connected sockeye salmon from the Brooks River to hole for hibernation.

Brown bears tin adhd up to 4 pounds of value a time and, arsenic hibernation begins, the largest big males tin measurement much than 1,200 pounds. In 2019, Otis was estimated to measurement much than 900 pounds.

The competition, which began Sept. 29 this year, pits pudgy pairs of bears against each other. Voters prime their favorites connected a website hosted by explore.org, a web of quality webcams, and the carnivore with the astir votes moves connected to the adjacent round.

Park officials stock stories of the bears done profiles that item their age, sex and offspring. Early successful the season, parkland staffers instrumentality photos of the bears erstwhile they are skinny and again astatine the extremity of the season, aft they person gained weight.

Bears astatine Brooks River are initially assigned numbers for monitoring purposes, with immoderate aboriginal acquiring nicknames from unit members astatine the park.

As a warm-up for this year’s competition, parkland staffers added a inferior bracket, a abdominous babe carnivore contention that highlighted 4 of the park’s chubbiest cubs.

“Fat Bear Jr. is simply a large mode to stock much astir the occurrence and struggles of cubs,” Ms. Kraft said. She noted that the cubs commencement their lives astir the size of a crockery can, measurement connected mean astir 1 lb astatine commencement and person a endurance complaint of 50 percent.

Four of them faced disconnected past month, and the victor was Bear 132’s Spring Cub, a 9-month-old with a abbreviated muzzle and shaggy brownish fur. That carnivore went connected to vie successful the big competition.

Last year’s big victor was Bear 747, his archetypal championship. Past winners besides see 409 Beadnose, a pistillate carnivore who won the conflict of the bulge successful 2018 and 2015.

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