All the fat bears are champions.
The hefty brown bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve — who have earned internet fame being broadcast on the livestreamed explore.org webcams — continually overcome intense ursine competition and the harsh realities of succeeding in the wild. The rivers of Katmai may teem with calorie-rich salmon, but surviving as an Alaskan bear is no cakewalk. Each year, these animals must pack on hundreds of pounds of fat before the unrelenting winter famine sets in and they hibernate for some six months.
The rankings of the fat bears are another way to recognize their success — just like the annual Fat Bear Week competition when the world votes for the fattest of the fat bears.
In the bear world, a fat bear is a thriving bear.
10. Diver
Diver is a Katmai legend.
This successful bear lived a profoundly long life (over three decades) at the Brooks River, the popular fishing ground for the livestreamed bears. He likely died around 1999, but his legacy endures.
Most bears catch fish by patiently waiting for them to swim by or leap into the air. But Diver employed a rare strategy. He masterfully dived, fully submerged underwater, gathering dead salmon on the river floor.
"Diving allowed him to feed on salmon that generally was inaccessible to most other bears. In the fall, he was often very fat — evidence that diving can be a lucrative fishing style," according to Katmai.
9. Divot
In the summer of 2014, Katmai park rangers spotted Divot with a wire snare tightly wound around her furry neck. It was "cutting slowly into her neck," they concluded.
An ambitious operation to track Divot via boat, sedate her, and remove the snare, succeeded.
Divot recovered, and today lives as a female bear (and mother) who competes with the largest, most dominant males for salmon.
"She is one fierce mama," Naomi Boak, the media ranger at Katmai National Park and Preserve, told Mashable.
8. Bear 503
One of the largest, most successful bears of Katmai's Brooks River today is bear 503. Yet it's amazing he's alive.
His mother, for reasons not fully understood, abandoned 503 in 2014. The hapless bear, unable to feed himself, wailed in a tree and soon wandered alone, sure to soon starve or succumb to one of many threats in the wild.
Yet, to the astonishment of park rangers, another mother, bear 435 (aka Holly), adopted 503. She nursed him, and eventually hibernated with him.
"He looked small and vulnerable in those weeks before he was adopted by Holly," Mike Fitz, a former park ranger at Katmai National Park and currently a resident naturalist for explore.org, told Mashable in 2019. "Looking at him now, it's like I'm watching a different bear."
7. Lurch
The bear world is ruthless and competitive. What we know of Lurch's life reflects this reality.
Lurch, or bear 814, grew to become one of the Brooks River's largest, most dominant, and imposing bears. He used his size and aggression to steal fish from other bears, and even kill other bears.
In one lurid event (from the human perspective, anyhow), Lurch cached dead bears under a large pile of dirt and vegetation (after the fish run had waned and calories were scarce). He laid atop the mound, protecting the carcasses he would later feed on. It was brutal dominance.
A few years later, Lurch would return to Katmai's Brooks River with a torn apart face, missing ear, and leg injury. The consequences of a fight enfeebled the once-dominant bear. Rangers haven't spotted Lurch in years, meaning he's likely dead, but his poignant Katmai legacy is unforgettable.
6. Grazer
In the bear world, bigger usually means dominant.
And dominant bears earn access to the best fishing spots. But in recent years, the female bear Grazer has established fishing territory while surrounded by some of Katmai's largest, often male bears. On the bear cams, observers have watched her aggressively charge or fight imposing bears that encroached her space.
"There's an argument to be made that she is as dominant as the biggest adult males at the river," explore.org's Fitz told Mashable.
5. Bear 410
One of the most successful bears in Katmai's history was a glorious snoozer.
Bear 410 lived for around 30 years, which is remarkably old for a brown bear. (For reference 20 is a pretty old bear.) Even in her later years, she was always one of the fattest bears and a top Fat Bear Week competitor. Rangers haven't seen her in a few years, meaning there's a reasonable chance she died.
But while alive, she would devour fish and then famously take great long naps on the Katmai beach, unbothered by the busy visitor season and loud floatplanes buzzing overhead. She was a champion.
4. Otis
Bear 480, Otis, is perhaps the most famous bear on Earth.
The elder bear, missing teeth, has a profoundly effective fishing style. He doesn't dash for fish. He stays stationary, often seen on the livestreamed webcams staring intently into the water. Some have mused he's lazy or unfocused. Not so. "While Otis occasionally appears to be napping or not paying attention, most of the time he's focused on the water, and he experiences a relatively high salmon catch rate as a result," explore.org wrote online.
In 2021, Otis caught bounties of fish, transforming from a gaunt bear to a fat bear in just some seven weeks. He was soon crowned the 2021 Fat Bear Week champion.
He was the champion we all needed.
3. Bear 856
Over the past decade or so, bear 856 has consistently been the most dominant of Katmai's fat bears.
He's not the largest. Instead, he's dominated through unmatched aggression. As Mashable noted in 2020: "Bear 856 is so dominant that he rarely needs to fight. His presence alone regularly intimidates other bears. When 856 shows up at the river, he often displaces bears, meaning they move off to another fishing spot, or leave the river altogether. If other bears fish nearby 856, it's because he tolerates their presence."
Yet after years of maintaining his place atop the hierarchy, another large male, bear 747, displaced 856 in 2021. We'll see if 856 regains his status in 2022.
2. Bear 747
Bear 747 eats so many fish that he can barely walk.
He's a supremely successful bear, and the fattest bear among all of Katmai's Brooks River bears. 747, the river's most dominant bear in 2021, will likely continue his dominance in the years ahead.
"I feel a special bit of privilege to witness a bear as big as he."
"He's the fattest and largest bear I've ever seen," explore.org's Fitz told Mashable. "I feel a special bit of privilege to witness a bear as big as he."
1. Holly
Bear 435, Holly, has achieved great things in her wild Katmai life:
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She's successfully raised many cubs. (So far, she's had five known liters.)
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She adopted an abandoned, helpless cub, and set him up for a thriving life (see bear 503 above).
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She's continually one of the fattest livestreamed bears. Holly's adept at succeeding in the wild, and is now over 20 years old.
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She is a Fat Bear Week champion.
via Zero Tech Blog
