Tag: Bear Force One

Huge relief as beloved bear Otis eats 100 lbs of salmon in 3 days

Otis the beloved Brooks River brown bear has finally started to put on weight, much to the relief of fans. His latest spree: 100 salmon in 3 days.

The most famous brown bear on Alaska’s Brooks River has many concerned because he’s old and has appeared gaunt and arthritic since his tardy emergence from hibernation.

But on Tuesday the folks at Explore.org, which maintains live-feed cameras on the Brooks River, happily reported that the bear, named Otis, “has eaten over 100 [pounds] of salmon in last 36 hours. He has been fishing nonstop!”

It’s wonderful news for his followers, of course, but also for a bear that is 27 years old (the upper end of a brown bear’s life cycle) and must compete with younger, more vigorous bears that battle for prime fishing spots on the river.

“Now I can tell he is better,” one follower commented. “The ribs and bones that were sticking out are smoothing out…. Keep on dear OTIS.”

Another comment: “He needs all the calories he can get. He has to catch up to 747 and the other big boys.”

That’s a reference to a true giant cataloged as Bear 747, aka Bear Force One.

Otis and 747 are perennial finalists in Fat Bear Week, a fan-driven competition held each fall as a celebration of the bears’ success after another feeding season.

But only Otis, a four-time Fat Bear Week champion, is referred to as the king, or King Otis.

To put Otis’ 36-hour feeding spree into perspective, the largest and most dominant bears on the river might consume as many as 100 pounds of salmon per day.

Whoa! Fat Bear Week appears to already have a frontrunner

Fat Bear Week 2022 appears to already have a frontrunner in Bear 747, a.k.a. Bear Force One.

Let the Fat Bear Week hype begin….

Brown bears in Alaska’s Katmai National Park have emerged from hibernation and will spend the summer fattening up on salmon along the Brooks River.

It’s a phenomenon enjoyed by millions, thanks to a live camera run by Explore.org, and it culminates each fall with a fan-friendly competition known as Fat Bear Week.

Typically, when bears first appear before the camera, they show signs of months spent sleeping in dens. They can lose 33% of their body weight during hibernation and need to start packing calories.

But when Bear 747, also known as Bear Force One, recently appeared looking surprisingly rotund, Explore.org tweeted a short video beneath the description: “Did 747 ‘BEARFORCE ONE’ even hibernate? What a beauty!”

Bear 747 is the 2020 champion of Fat Bear Week, but last year finished runner-up to four-time winner Otis.

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Being among the fattest bears in Katmai National Park & Preserve means being among the healthiest, given the harsh winters the animals must endure in their dens. (The bears must consume a year’s worth of food in six months.)

The park bills Fat Bear Week, a March Madness-style event that begins in late September, as “an annual celebration of success” but adds that all Brooks River bears are winners.

Last year a record 793,000 votes were cast during the seven-day competition.

–Image courtesy of Explore.org