While he had won the title three times-more than any other bear-the last was in 2017. At his quarter-century mark, Otis is the oldest bear regularly observed at the falls, and he faced stiff competition from much younger animals. Still, he was anything but a shoo-in for the Fat Bear Week title. While no one has yet lured Otis onto a scale, in the past rangers have estimated that he would weigh in north of 1,000 pounds, and to the casual observer, he looked as chunky as ever. Over the next few months, Otis blew up, gorging himself on his typical fall diet of salmon plucked out of fishing holes at the falls. “Otis is one of Katmai National Park’s chubbiest bears. Finally, in late July, the park announced that a rather slim-looking Otis had returned to his old fishing grounds once again. When they pass away from disease, starvation, or injuries incurred in showdowns with other bears, their bodies are rarely found by rangers, instead quietly disappearing into the backcountry of the park. Most wild bears in the park only live to between 20 and 30 years old. After the bear failed to turn up at Katmai National Park and Preserve‘s Brooks Falls by mid-summer, viewers on ‘s livestream began to wonder if they had seen the last of Otis.
It’s a reversal of fortune after a difficult start to the fall feeding season for Otis.
On Tuesday, the 25-year-old bruin took the title once again, beating 151 Walker in the final round of polling to lock up his unprecedented fourth Fat Bear Week Championship. The dust is settled, the salmon are eaten, and the votes are counted: There’s a new reigning Fattest Bear, and his name is 480 Otis.
FAT BEAR WEEK FULL
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