After a tense week of voting , the results are in : The claim of Alaska ’s fattest floof goes to yield 435 , aka Holly , an vast yet beautiful blond fuzzball . To be crowned the champion of Fat Bear Week 2019 , Holly had tobeat out some tough competitor , from premature spicy contender Chunk to fellow finalist and chubster Lefty . Holly ’s winter look has previouslybeen described asresembling “ the configuration and semblance of a toasted marshmallow ” .
Each year , Katmai National Park and Preservecreates a knockout competition , with the public balloting for the bear they view as to have balloon the most in preparation for winter . There were some impressive round bois ( and girls ) in 2019 ’s competition , but they had nothing on Holly , who seems to have doubled in size , at least around the middle .
“ She is juicy . She is mythical . She is 435 Holly , ” Katmai National Park and Preserve compose onFacebook . “ All hail Holly whose healthy heft will facilitate her hibernate until the spring . Long live the Queen of Corpulence ! ”
Holly is a super mammy and has reared a issue of cubs , even successfully raise one who suffered a bad hitch early on on in liveliness . She even adopt and leaven a lost cub that was not her own . Now an adult , this bear ( 503 ) also got involve in Fat Bear Week , but was n’t portly enough to beat infamous chonk Grazer and got knocked out in the quarter - finals . Holly has n’t raised any newfangled cubs this twelvemonth , so she ’s been able to gorge herself on fatty Salmon River without having to divvy up . And it really shows .
" It was very grueling to get a good picture [ of Holly ] out of the water , because she was a submarine for the total month , " Katmai Conservancy Media Ranger Naomi Boak toldNPR . " She did not block off fishing , except to dig a belly trap big enough for her to sleep in . "
There ’s good reasonableness for the bear ’ newfound curves , they must hit as much weightiness as possible to maximize their fortune of surviving the wintertime months . It ’s a uncouth misconception that bears hibernate , when actually they do something slenderly different . Their eternal rest is call atorpor – it ’s similar to hibernation in that their heart rate , breathing rate , and body temperature drop , and they can catch some Z’s for months at a time , but it is not nearly as extreme . The key departure is they can easily wake up , for example , if they ’re in danger . Female bears can awake to give parturition and devolve to their slumber afterward .
While the fat person of Katmai are the heroes we all need right now , there ’s a serious side to Fat Bear Week too . The national green go for to raise knowingness of the bears and the impingement thatclimate changeis having on both them and other bear around the country . While Holly and her pals have transform themselves into out-and-out units , the Salmon River they tip onturned up tardily this yeardue to drought . If they ca n’t get as much Salmon River as they used to , the bears wo n’t holler up quite so much , which in turn lowers their chances of surviving the chilly winter calendar month .
Will 2020 ’s Fat Bear Week be bless with such roly - poly fluffsters as this year ? We ’ll have to wait and see . In the interim , you could keep an middle on the rival withKatmai ’s Bear Cams .
