Hibernating to skip the cold months of winter may sound lazy, but the fact of the matter is, bears have a lot of work to do to prepare for their long slumber. They have to eat, then eat some more, and then eat a little more. Well, basically they just eat nonstop until they look giant stuffed teddy bears. The result of all this eating is quite frankly amazing, which is why the employees of Katmai National Park in Alaska created Fat Bear Week: a whole week to honor the brown bears that have grown the fattest over summer.
Since 2014, Katmai National Park asks people online around this time of year to vote, March Madness-style, on which bear has grown the fattest over the summer. Between now and Tuesday, October 8, the park will post picture match-ups of bear pairs on its Facebook page. And you, loyal citizen, get to choose which one looks fattest.
To be clear, this is not about fat-shaming, a press release from Katmai insists. It’s a celebration of life. After all, “large amounts of body fat in brown bears is indicative of good health and strong chances of survival” over the winter.
