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.
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00Yo, it's that time of year again. Fat Bear Week!
00:10The National Park Service hosts a vote to pick which one's the fattest.
00:14It's the chonkiest of chonks.
00:15They even have a live stream to watch the bears eat
00:17and sliders to see how much weight the bears put on.
00:30We even have a bracket so it's like March Madness but cooler.
00:38Fat Bear Week takes place in Katmai National Park in Alaska,
00:41known for its huge brown bear population.
00:44These bears are working day and night to get fat, fat, fat for the winner.
00:53Bears hibernate from late fall into early spring.
00:56They'll pretty much stick around until all of the salmon is gone.
01:00If there's no food source and nothing for them to eat,
01:10then it's time to build a den and take a nap for the winter.
01:17Bears aren't actually true hibernators.
01:19They go into a state called torpor,
01:21which is just a slowing of the heart rate and metabolism.
01:25So it would be very easy to wake a bear up if you came across their den.
01:30Bears actually give birth in the den in early spring.
01:39They will nurse and nurse their little cub until they're 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
01:59and is now a week-long event.
02:12I'd say the most positive outcome of Fat Bear Week
02:15is kind of showing the world this pristine ecosystem
02:18that still exists in Katmai National Park.
02:20We're in Bristol Bay.
02:22It's home to hundreds of thousands of sockeye salmon.
02:24It's the last 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
02:33and it's really cool to see that that place still exists.
02:36It's great to bring people to this spot even though it's virtual.
02:40Give them a place to care about.
02:49Otis is an old dude so I'm gonna root for him for Fat Bear Week.
02:58you