Fat Bear Week

We have all gained a little extra weight from time to time, but for brown bears, piling on the extra pounds means the difference between life and death. They can hibernate for six months of the year - meaning they have to gorge from July to September in order get through Winter and into the Spring mating season.

For adult males this can mean packing on an eye-watering 400-500lb (180-225kg) in a couple of months by indulging in hundreds of pounds of fatty salmon. By the time hibernation starts, some will top the scales at well over 1000lb-1200lb (450-550kg), in preparation of losing up to a third of their bodyweight as temperatures drop to up to -37C (-35F) in the park.

Katmai National Park - a sprawling eight million acre reserve in Alaska - is poking fun at the process by again hosting their annual "Fat Bear Week". The week-long event, which encourages fans to vote on social media for their favourite animals, pits gorged bears against each other in heats, until one ultimately will take the 2018 crown for their stocky stature.

The competition started in 2014 and has grown in popularity since. The new-found attention online is a strange phenomenon for park staff to understand - but they're embracing it, eagerly announcing the start of "jiggly season" earlier this week.

"Fat bear week started as a way to engage the public with our bears, if people are interested in the bears, they tend to want to help protect them," Ranger Russ Taylor says.

Well, if it works...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45749891