The true “titan of tonnage” has been topped.
After a record-breaking week of voting, the Katmai Nationwide Park and Protect named the 2021 Fat Bear Week champion as none of apart from the unique winner himself — 480 Otis.
The week-long celebration of bears in southwest Alaska bulking up as hibernation and winter close to had followers voting on which bear they thought was the chonkiest of all of them. This yr, over 793,000 votes had been forged through the week, breaking final yr’s report of round 650,000 votes.
After a tricky week of competitors, 480 Otis defeated fellow massive boy 151 Walker, also referred to as the “Baron of Beardonkadonk,” to grow to be an unprecedented four-time Fats Bear Week champion. 480 Otis was the inaugural Fats Bear Week champion in 2014, earlier than profitable back-to-back titles in 2016-17, after which as soon as once more taking the chonky crown this yr.
480 Otis took down some heavyweights on his option to profitable the competitors, together with last year’s champion, 747. There isn’t any precise prize for the “portly patriarch of paunch” apart from world recognition he in all probability will not ever concentrate on.
First recognized by park rangers in 2001 when he was 4-years-old, 480 Otis could also be getting up there in age as brown bears sometimes dwell for round 20-30 years outdated, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Nonetheless, this old-timer has a couple of tips up his fur.
Whereas most of the majestic creatures on this yr’s 12-bear event are among the most dominant ones on the nationwide park – which may end up in confrontations over fashionable feeding spots – 480 Otis avoids all of that.
As an alternative of going after salmon, 480 Otis merely waits for them to come back to him. Though he “often seems to be napping or not paying consideration” to the fish, 480 Otis nonetheless succeeds in consuming, as evident in him turning into the 2021 Fats Bear Week champion.
“He is recognized for sitting in his ‘workplace’ on the far facet of the autumn. He simply chills there and waits for the fish to come back to him,” Sara Wolman, undertaking and media supervisor for Katmai Conservancy, advised USA TODAY final week. “He actually did placed on the kilos this yr.”
480 Otis is one among an estimated 2,200 bears that occupy the nationwide park, which is a well-liked place for them to feed earlier than the winter because of the abundance of sockeye salmon. One fish can include round 4,500 energy, and Cheryl Spencer, a ranger on the park, stated its important for bears to eat a lot as they’ll lose a 3rd of their physique weight in hibernation.
Extra Fats Bear Week protection: Learn about this year’s competitors
Watch: Orphaned grizzly bear cub and lonely polar bear cub at Detroit Zoo become best friends
Observe Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.
