America's fattest bear is about to be crowned

[Cattledog]

An Alaskan brown bear known as 409 Beadnose had her hands full with two new cubs in the summer of 2016. They remained at her side when she emerged from hibernation last year and set about fishing for sockeye salmon in Katmai National Park and Preserve. In other words, Beadnose was sharing the spoils.

Not this year. In the lingo of wildlife biologists, she “emancipated” those cubs, and this spring she emerged from a long winter’s snooze a lithe empty-nester. After a summer stuffing her maw with salmon that were hers and hers alone, Beadnose has the blubber to show for it.

That remarkable expansion has landed 409 Beadnose — a name that combines her official, park-assigned number and a moniker inspired by her upturned snout — in the finals Tuesday of Katmai’s fourth annual Fat Bear Week contest. The battle plays out on Facebook, where pairs of photos of bear bods, all regulars at the Brooks River buffet, are pitted side-by-side, and the winner of each round is the one that gets the most likes. (You can vote here, starting at 10 a.m. Eastern time.)


https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2018/10/09/americas-fattest-bear-is-about-be-crowned/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.12b85b3fb68a

[magicarpet]

1. A regular visitor at Crispy Cream and Dunkin Donuts ?