No details were available about Otis’ weight, but Walker’s biography disclosed that he was believed to weigh 1,000 pounds last year “but appears to be larger this year.”
Twelve bears started in the celebration of corpulence on September 29 before the final online showdown Tuesday.
The fatter the bear, the healthier they are
Fat bears thrive in Katmai, specifically on the Brooks River. It’s one of the largest and healthiest “runs” of salmon — that’s when salmon migrate upstream and lay eggs on riverbeds — in the world, according to the park. And in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, where part of the park is located, brown bears outnumber the human residents.
The fatter the bear, the healthier they’ll be when they emerge from hibernation. The national park’s bears fatten up before they hibernate for the winter, when they must live off their fat stores while waiting out the cold weather in their dens.
It added: “We haven’t seen bears so fat they can’t move, but we have seen bears definitely have difficulty navigating steep banks down to the river.”
CNN’s Scottie Andrews and Christina Maxouris contributed to this report.