Welcome to Fat Bear Week 2019! Katmai National Park's bears spent the summer gorging on 4,500-calorie salmon, and they've transformed into rotund giants, some over 1,000 pounds. The park is holding its annual playoff-like competition for the fattest of the fat bears (you can vote online between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8), and Mashable will be following the ursine activity.
In a realm of profoundly fat bears, Holly may be the fattest of them all.
Alaskan bear-viewing guide Drew Hamilton, an affable character with a great red beard, just returned from Katmai National Park's Brooks River, where the fat bears dwell. He saw Holly, or officially, Bear 435. Read more...
More about Fat Bear Week 2019, Science, and Animalsvia Tingle Tech