Massive “Chunk” Wins Fat Bear Week
There is a fat bear competition in Katmai National Park in Alaska. It is a competition where people find a bear and compete to determine how heavy the bear is. A bear named Chunk wins the competition. Chunk gained the weight of 1200 pounds.
In “Fat Bear Week”, people find a bear and describe it. They also show pictures of the bear before the summer and after the summer. Over the summer, bears eat salmon in the river. Brown bears need to grow fat in the summer. It’s because in the winter, they hibernate. Hibernating needs a lot of energy. Brown bears will not move or eat for the whole winter; they will just sleep.
Bears are also competing with themselves. It’s because they won’t have enough food all summer. When the salmon in the river are fewer than usual, some of the bears will fight for food. They all need energy for a long sleep.
Before summer, the weight of a brown bear is 600 pounds to 900 pounds. This year’s winner, Chunk, weighs 1200 pounds before hibernation. People were worried because Chunk had a broken jaw. It was a problem because a broken jaw may make it difficult for Chunk to hunt. But it still wins the game, and people realize how strong Chunk’s survival ability is.