#and VOTE FOR 128 GRAZER

[beartoebeans]

The Fat Bear Week 2022 bracket is up!!!! The tournament runs from Oct 5-11, and voting every day is open between 12-9pm Eastern time / 9am-6pm Pacific time / 5pm-2am London time.

VOTE when voting's open / read about the contestants

[lewvithur]

grazer is so rotund. you can't even see her belly under the water

[saltwife]

today is the day!!

The time has come to show support for the Queen of the Falls, the HBIC of Brooks River; the one and only 128 GRAZER!! Whereas her opponent started out the season pear-shaped, Grazer returned a skinny sow with two hungry 2.5 year olds in tow.

She then rose to IMMENSE FATNESS while caring for, and even nursing, her giant daughters. I mean, look at this!

She doesn’t even need to sit to look fat AF, unlike some bears.

Look at her! A true, beautiful orb of a bear!! She is at least as fat as Holly, and she did it all while looking out for her girls, not just for herself. No bear works as hard as Grazer, and no bear can boast her gains! Today, my friends, I implore you to go to https://explore.org/fat-bear-week and VOTE GRAZER! Voting is open until 9pm EST!

[johnnyslittleanimalblog]

the winner of the katmai np / explore.com 2023 fat bear contest

Grazer ( bear 128 ) ♥

the new queen of katmai

there were almost 1.4 million votes cast during fat bear week.

that is a lot of bear love.

Bear Cam   link

via   explore.org

[astrabear]

I hope you have all been doing your civic duty and voting in Fat Bear Week. (It's only Day 2, not too late to get started!)

I think this year I'm going to put my own fat bear weight behind 128 Grazer. She did such a good job fattening up! She is so round!

[borgeslabyrinth]

FBW FINALE! It's all been leading to this point, folks! 128 Grazer against 32 Chunk!

Vote here!

[katmaibearfan]

results from both polls are in!! the first Identification Guide will be covering 128 Grazer (29.1% of the vote), and the first Bear Cam Lore post will be the story of 132 And Her Gang Of Massive Children (23.2% of the vote)!

I'm so excited to get started on these -- 128 Grazer is my favorite bear, and the story of how 132 & her three 2.5 year old cubs became a force to be reckoned with in 2016 is a very funny one, with some great photos and videos!

[briearesea]

⬇️⬇️ VOTE HERE ⬇️⬇️

FAT BEAR FINALS!

FAT BEAR FINALS!

FAT BEAR FINALS!

FAT

BEAR

FINALS!!!!!

128 Grazer

VS.

32 Chunk

[kasper-en-massper]

IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN BABEY!!!!!

EVERYONE GO VOTE IN FAT BEAR WEEK 2023

me personally i'm here for a 128 Grazer sweep i am 128 Grazer's biggest fan

[bazpitch]

guys go here and vote for 128 grazer in fat bear week.. she's a mom it must be so much harder for her to eat enough to get fat bc she has to feed her babies... she's winning but her competitor is catching up :(

[beartoebeans]

Why should I vote 128 GRAZER in Fat Bear Week 2022?

So glad you asked!

She's a giant, firstly. An absolute balloon of a bear. Gaze upon her hibernation bod:

Truly worthy of the title. Compare to June of this year:

Grazer is second from the left; her cubs are to the right of her. They all look like different bears when looked at next to their fall selves. They've worked their giant butts off to get to where they are. Incidentally, that's a screenshot from a clip titled "128 Catches Two Fish at Once". She is a phenomenally skilled fisherbear who's taught those skills to her cubs, so that they too can be successful adults someday.

Consider also that Grazer is the only mother bear in the bracket. While every other contestant has only had to fatten themselves up, Grazer has been nursing her giant 2.5-year-old cubs (transfer of fat from her to her cubs; it would be for any animal, but bear milk is especially high in fat), allowing her cubs to share her fish (again losing out on fat in order to fatten her cubs), and defending her family in true Grazer style (burning calories, and thus fat). Her cubs have begun to catch their own fish after watching such a skilled mother, which has lessened her burden, but the fact remains that Grazer has been fattening up two other bears in addition to herself this year. And oh, boy, are they fat:

Family naptime, with one of her cubs standing up on the left. They both look like Grazer if you put her through a low-powered shrinkray.

To sum up, Grazer has achieved peak fall bear bod, as good as anyone else's on the bracket (look at her, y'all. what a round bear), while giving away a lot of fat to her family. She has therefore gathered more fat than anyone.

If that's not enough for you, maybe her personality will win you over. She is the fiercest and most defensive mother bear on the entire river. Check out this video: here. Mike Fitz, a former ranger still involved with bearcam (a livestream where the FBW bears can be seen during the summer), chose memorable moments to highlight for the 10th anniversary of bearcam. He seems to have thought, "Really, Grazer's entire personality is a memorable moment." And, honestly? Accurate.

Personally I will never forget that time 747, most dominant bear at the time, snuck up on another male bear in her vicinity and she charged in to shut the whole thing down. After yelling at the other bear, all she had to do was glare at 747 and take a few pointed steps in his direction, and he slunk off, intimidated. (She got involved because bears fighting in the area is dangerous for cubs, since they can get caught in the crossfire and killed. If other bears have to be around cubs, the safest environment for them is a peaceful one.) Video link!

Or the time she went for 856, an absolute giant, also the dominant bear that year and known to bears and humans alike for his bad temper:

Look at her, she's like half his size. She doesn't give a shit. All to make sure her nearby cubs were safe.

She has a similar attitude when it comes to gaining access to fishing spots for herself and her cubs. She doesn't go straight to charging in and roaring, but she will approach anyone in her spot and make it known that she wants it, and whoever is there had better make way so her cubs can eat. She's made her reputation this way, and other bears often just go ahead and leave whenever she shows up to fish. She and her cubs grow into giant blimps every year off this tactic.

The top of the dominance hierarchy is typically full of male bears, but there are a few female bears that can achieve situational dominance. When Grazer has cubs, she and her family are right at the top. (Although she is smart, too, and knows when it's probably not worth it, which is what makes her dominance only situational.)

When there's no danger and no competition, however, she and her family can be very sweet. Here are some videos: 1, 2

Also, if this matters, 151 Walker, her competition in her first round, is scared to death of her.

So remember: Vote 128 Grazer for Fat Bear Week champion 2022! The queen deserves her crown.

[praesaepe]

happy fat bear week, yall better be voting for 128 grazer when the time comes

[saltwife]

it's that time again!

Today (05/10/23) is Grazer's first matchup in Fat Bear Week 2023! It's time to come out and support the HBIC of the falls, the only sow to crack the top 4 of the bear hierarchy even without cubs, the Queen of Katmai, 128 Grazer!!

This year, Grazer successfully emancipated her 3.5 year old twins, now numbered 428 and 429, who have gone on to become plump bears in their own right! Single once more, she dedicated herself to fishing and fatness. In a lean year, where the salmon run was late and not as abundant as it had been for the past few years, Grazer found-- no, earned success. While many other bears struggled to find fish, this peerless angler went to work to find the precious few productive spots. She was the first bear to catch a fish on cams this year, and she just never stopped. Day and night (more often night, later in the summer) she slammed those salmon, and went from a skinny sow to a behemoth bear. Her neck disappeared. She became a little tiny bear face on a big fat body. I have seen her fall look compared to that of a tardigrade, and honestly? Yes.

Perfection.

And that's not even touching on her other amazing qualities, such as how her fierce reputation as a mother bear not to be trifled with has carried over into her single life! She is able to displace other, much larger bears from her desired spots, often without doing anything other than sowing up. She commands respect.

But she is also tolerant of other family groups, even allowing one of 910's cubs to 'share' fish with her. And of course, she is a heart stoppingly beautiful bear! Need I even add that she is endorsed by explore.org's own Mike Fitz??

Grazer has deserved the crown the past 3 years. Even while nursing and protecting cubs, she was immense. And in this lean year, her skills have allowed her to flourish into glorious fatness once again. It's time for a new head to wear the crown. It's time to go to fatbearweek.org and vote GRAZER! Voting is open from noon to 9 PM eastern time.

[johnnyslittleanimalblog]

here is the latest updated bracket for the katmai national park/ explore.org fat bear week contest.

the final four.

monday you can vote for bear 32 chunk vs bear 901 a first time mom with a heart breaking story

AND bear 128 grazer vs 435 holly. Two VERY popular lady bears.

The winners will be voted on tuesday for the championship.

Here are the links for voting, for the bear cam itself and for the otis fund which supports education and research for the katmai bears . the otis fund is tax deductible and every dollar donated will be matched by the generous people at explore.org

links >

vote  http://exploreorg.tv/fatbearweek

donate  Otis Fund

view Bear Cam 

via explore.org

[borgeslabyrinth]

FBW round four is here! Big upsets yesterday with 901 defeating the king 480 Otis. (The big upset was me. I was the upset one.) Today 128 Grazer is up against 747, and 164 Bucky is against 435 Holly.

Grazer is set to take the crown from Bear Force One this year! She's leagues ahead in the polls. Lots of shake ups this year!

Vote here!

[fatbearweek]

Voting starts 12pm EST / 9am PST.

Cast your vote here!

(Votes cast on Tumblr do NOT count! I am not affiliated with Katmai National Park.)