Giant, ‘Chunk’ scoffs 45 salmon in 10-hour marathon forward of ‘Fat Bear Week’

Among the fat bear titans stands a salmon-scoffing beast on course to get even bigger before he beds down for winter.

Aptly named Chunk, the Alaskan brown bear from Katmari National Park and Preserve has spent hours gorging on a fishy feast ready for hibernation.

The gargantuan giant is set to balloon in his calorie-laden quest which has made him a top contender in Fat Bear Week. The annual event sees wildlife watchers place their bets over which bear they think will be the heaviest.

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Just recently, avid bear-cam watchers observed Chunk devour a whopping 45 salmon in his 10 hours of fishing at his favourite spot at Brooks River.

A single sockeye salmon can pack around 4,000 calories putting Chunk on course to take the crown.

Mike Fitz, a former Katmai park ranger and currently a resident naturalist for explore.org estimates Chunk currently weighs 1,200 pounds with a solid salmon-consuming month ahead.

“That would mean that Chunk consumed 135,000 calories in one day,” Fitz told Mashable. “This is direct evidence of his hard work and success in preparation for winter hibernation.”

Brown bears eat and eat around this time of year to build enough fat stores to see them through winter.

In the coming month or so, Katmai’s already rotund bears will continue to exploit any salmon left in the river. They’ll lose up to one-third of their body weight during hibernation, so the more fat accumulation, the better odds of survival.

Park rangers told Mashable: “Fat bears are healthy, successful bears, endowed with ample fat stores to survive the long, harsh Alaskan hibernation.

“Each winter, curled snug in their dens, brown bears endure a months-long famine. During hibernation, bears will not eat or drink and they will lose one-third of their body weight.

“Their winter survival depends on accumulating ample fat reserves before entering the den. Katmai’s brown bears are at their fattest in late summer and early fall after a summer spent trying to satisfy their profound hunger.”

They added: “Fat bears exemplify the richness of Katmai National Park and Bristol Bay, Alaska, a wild region that is home to more brown bears than people and the largest, healthiest runs of sockeye salmon left on the planet.”

Fat Bear Week, which takes place during the first week of October each year, is an online event organised by the Park Service and wildlife livestreamers, explore.org. The event shows how the region’s brown bears have fared after months of devouring sockeye salmon.

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