And the fattest bear in Alaska is ... this rotund mother bear

In an Alaska clash of tubbytitans that has become a social media sensation, a shaggy, brownand possibly pregnant mother known as 409 Beadnose was crownedon Tuesdayas Fattest Bear of 2018.

Beadnose nosed out a larger Alaska brown bear, a male called747, and likened to a jumbo jet in online votes collected bystaff at Katmai National Park and Preserve during a wildlypopular event called Fat Bear Week. Male bears are bigger, butBeadnose was deemed to be more rotund.

Her radiant rolls were deemed by the voting public to bethis year's most fabulous flab, the park said on its Facebook page.

Our chubby champ has a few more weeks to chow down onlingering salmon carcasses.- Katmai National Park and Preserve Facebook post

"Our chubby champ has a few more weeks to chow down onlingering salmon carcasses before she heads up the mountains todig herself a den and savour her victory."

Katmai, which hugs the mountainous Gulf of Alaska coast, isknown for its massive, salmon-chomping ursine residents.

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Gorging in preparation for winter

October, the month before bears go into their dens tohibernate, is when the animals work the hardest to build thebody fat they need to survive winter. And October is a perfecttime for nature lovers to watch Katmai'slivestreamvideo as thepark's brown bears do their pre-hibernation gorging.

Fat Bear Week may be fun and games for human spectators, butit is serious business for bears, said AndrewLaValle, a Katmairanger who is in charge of most of the park's social mediapostings.

"This might be entertaining, especially with these beautiful, majestic animals, but this is a life-or-death struggle,"hesaid.

The bears have to eat a year's worth of food in a fewmonths but really start to chow down in June when sockeye salmonbegin swimming upstream through the park to spawn. Bears canlose a third of their body weight while hibernating,LaVallesaid.

Fat Bear Week got its start in 2014 as a one-day educationalevent called Fat BearTuesday, LaValle said. It became aweek-long event the next year.

Throughout the past week, park staffers have posted photosof individual bears and gathered input from viewers who selectedfavourites in a bracketed, tournament-style competition. Thisyear's competition started with 12 bears before reachingTuesday's Beadnose-747 faceoff.

Luckily for Katmai bears, their home holds a river teemingwith fish from the world's largest natural salmon runs. TheBrooks River is a spawning site for salmon based in southwesternAlaska's Bristol Bay.

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