CNN
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In an thrilling and private rematch from final 12 months, 128 Grazer and 32 Chunk confronted off once more within the ultimate spherical of 2024’s Fats Bear Week contest.
And this 12 months, embattled mama bear 128 Grazer has retained the crown of the most well-liked fats bear within the annual on-line competitors, which is observing its tenth anniversary this 12 months.
Grazer greater than doubled Chunk’s vote rely, garnering 71,248 votes to her male rival’s 30,468 votes. The character web site Explore.org administers the online voting, which noticed a ultimate tally of 1,041,124, in accordance with the location round 9:30 p.m. ET Tuesday.
The competition is held by Katmai Nationwide Park & Protect to advertise public consciousness concerning the wild brown bears of Alaska. Like scenic drives to see the altering leaves, it’s develop into a well-liked fall ritual in the USA and around the globe.
Whereas individuals like to examine and vote for the fulsome, charming-from-a-distance brown bears and watch them on live cam, this 12 months specifically gave us a brand new look into their oftentimes wild, harsh lives.
Grazer and Chunk’s historical past
128 Grazer and 32 Chunk are growing fairly the historical past between them, and it’s not all within the artifical, on-line brackets-style competitors, both.
Grazer has “a protracted, straight muzzle and conspicuously blond ears,” in accordance with Explore.org. Extra essential than her seems to be, although, she’s “a extremely defensive” mom bear who has raised three litters. She’s given lots of respect and a large berth by different bears.
However generally accidents of nature and the intentions of rivals intervene within the lifetime of a mom bear.
In July 2024, each of her first-year cubs have been swept over the Brook Falls, the place the Katmai bears collect to fatten up on salmon forward of their winter hibernations, in accordance with Discover.org. The dashing water within the Brooks River swept her cubs towards Chunk, presently probably the most dominant male bear on the river.
As massive, male bears generally do, Chunk went on the offense. And as mom bears do, Grazer went on protection for her cubs. However Chunk was capable of injure the cub nearest to him earlier than Grazer might cease him. That cub later died from its accidents, Discover.org and Katmai mentioned.
The surviving cub, referred to as 128’s Spring Cub, was a contender within the 2024 Fats Bear Junior contest held in late September. That contest was gained by 909Jr., a “large-bodied almost 4-year-old feminine cub.”
The July demise of Grazer’s cub hasn’t been the one bear-on-bear assault to catch the general public’s consideration.
Final week, viewers of the reside cam might need gotten greater than they bargained for when Bear No. 469, a male, approached, attacked and finally killed Bear No. 402, a feminine that was nearly as massive, within the Brooks River.
That assault delayed the posting of the brackets by a day whereas park and contest officers regrouped. The Nationwide Park Service and Discover.Org have posted an edited model of the footage together with commentary on YouTube.
“We love the bears, however once more it’s a transparent reminder of how huge and robust and highly effective these animals really are,” mentioned Mike Fitz, the resident naturalist with Discover.org, within the commentary.
Competitors for meals can drive a lot of bear habits, and the competition spotlights their battle to reside.
“For bears, fats equals survival. Every winter, bears enter the den the place they won’t eat or drink till they emerge in spring. Throughout this time, they might lose as much as one-third of their physique weight as they rely solely on their fats reserves,” the Nationwide Park Service mentioned on its web site.
“Survival is dependent upon consuming a 12 months’s price of meals in six months. At Katmai, bears are drawn to the massive variety of salmon available from roughly late June by way of September.”