Fat Bear Week returns as 12 burly contenders vie for internet crown

Twelve of the biggest brown bears are once again battling it out to be crowned the winner of Fat Bear Week in Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve.

But as with all good competitions, the road to glory has been a testing one for the enormous contenders "with the drama going back to spring when the bears emerged from hibernation to an empty pantry", said The Washington Post.

Brown bears in Katmai need to eat a year's worth of food in about six months to store enough fat to survive the winter. But "the salmon run this year was really slow in coming [to] Brooks River and bears have had to work a little bit harder than in years past", said Explore.org naturalist Mike Fitz, who created Fat Bear Week in 2014.

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The online event "has become something of a phenomenon", said the BBC, with more than a million votes cast last year.

Fans can once again vote for their favourite bear as they go head to head from 4–10 October and keep track of them too by watching the Explore.org live cameras positioned around the park.

Among the contenders this year are some familiar faces: bear number 480, also known as Otis, a 27-year-old brown bear weighing around 1,200lb; and bear number 747, a two-time Fat Bear Week champion, weighing roughly the same.

The bear looking for the most Hollywood of endings, though, remains number 435, aptly known as Holly, who is one of the oldest bears in the competition.

The 2019 Fat Bear Week champ "has captured hearts for years for being a 'supermum,' going so far as to adopt an abandoned cub in 2014 (a very rare occurrence in the bear world)", said The Washington Post. 

While each Fat Bear Week ends with a champion, "all of these animals are winners", said Mashable. Though for Holly's fans, some are more worthy winners than others. As one such cheerleader pointed out in the Fat Bear Week Bracket Tournament Facebook group, "in America human women become invisible as they age. Holly deserves to shine BECAUSE of her age".