Heavyweight Champ

For brown bears, bigger is better. Just ask a bear named Bear Force One. For the second time, he has won the Fat Bear Week competition. This battle of the bears takes place each year at Katmai National Park in Alaska. 

“It’s a chance to celebrate the work that bears put in to getting fat to survive,” explains Mike Fitz. He started the Fat Bear contest in 2014. 

Bears in Katmai begin hibernating in the fall. They dig dens, or caves, on steep slopes. Then they hibernate, or rest, inside for the winter months. 

While in hibernation, bears don’t eat or drink. Their body fat helps keep them warm—and alive.

To get ready for the long winter, bears eat anything they can get their paws on. That includes berries, plants, and their favorite food—salmon. 

“They need to eat a year’s worth of food in about six months to survive,” Fitz says. 

After all that eating, people looked at before-and-after photos of 12 bears. In October, they voted for the bear they thought put on the most weight. Bear Force One was the BIG winner. He weighs about 1,400 pounds!

Bear Force One won’t come out of his den until spring. By then he’ll have lost about one-third of his body weight. And his hunt for food will start all over!