Alaska’s Fat Bear Contest winner finishes ahead of the bear that killed her cub

In a storyline amended befitting a melodrama than a popularity vote, Grazer won her 2nd Fat Bear Contest Tuesday by defeating the antheral behemoth that killed her cub this summer.

Grazer bushed Chunk by much than 40,000 votes formed by fans watching unrecorded cameras atexplore.org of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve.

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Fans formed votes online for their favourite chunky rival successful tournament-style brackets that begins with 12 bears. They picked the carnivore they judge champion exemplifies wintertime preparedness by the abdominous they person accumulated implicit the summertime feeding connected the sockeye salmon that instrumentality to Brooks River.

The bears often perch astatine the apical of a falls successful the river, grabbing leaping salmon retired of the aerial arsenic the food effort to hurdle the waterfall to spawn upstream.

This is wherever Grazer’s cub died aft it slipped implicit the waterfall and was killed by Chunk, possibly the astir ascendant brown bear connected the river. Grazer fought Chunk successful an effort to prevention the cub, but it aboriginal died. The decease was captured connected the unrecorded cameras.

Another decease was captured unrecorded by the cameras conscionable past week, delaying the merchandise of the tourney bracket for a day. Bear 402, a pistillate carnivore that was expected to beryllium a contestant successful this year’s contest, was killed by a antheral brownish carnivore the time the brackets were expected to beryllium released.

In this photograph provided by the National Park Service is Grazer, the victor of the 2023 Fat Bear Contest, astatine Katmai National Park, Alaska connected Sept. 14, 2023.  (F. Jimenez/National Park Service via AP)

Grazer has conspicuously blond ears and a long, consecutive muzzle, according to her bio leafage astatine explore.org. "She is simply a formidable beingness connected Brooks River. Her fearlessness and spot person earned her respect, with astir bears avoiding confrontation," it says.

Her different surviving cub from her 3rd litter placed 2nd 2 weeks agone successful the Fat Bear Junior contest.

Chunk is possibly the largest carnivore connected the river, with narrow-set eyes, acheronian brownish fur and a distinctive scar crossed his muzzle, his bio says. He utilized his size to emergence to the apical of the stream hierarchy this twelvemonth and secured the premier sportfishing spots.

"Chunk’s assurance and aggression paid off, allowing him to feast connected 42 salmon successful 10 hours," it says. "His carnal occurrence is evident successful his bulky form."

Adult antheral brownish bears typically measurement 600 to 900 pounds (about 270 to 410 kilograms) successful mid-summer. By the clip they are acceptable to hibernate aft feasting connected migrating and spawning salmon — each eats arsenic galore arsenic 30 food per time — ample males tin measurement good implicit 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms). Females are astir one-third smaller.

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The yearly contest, which drew much than 1.3 cardinal votes past year, is simply a mode to observe the resiliency of the 2,200 brownish bears that unrecorded successful the sphere connected the Alaska Peninsula, which extends from the state’s southwest country toward the Aleutian Islands.

In summation to the unrecorded cameras, Katmai has go a bucket database tourer destination and viewing stands person been built connected the stream to let radical to ticker the brownish bears food for salmon.