ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaskans know the drill. Every fall Katmai National Park’s Fat Bear Week turns into a bracket-style popularity contest as the internet votes for the roundest, most successful brown bear ahead of hibernation. Now a similar contest is playing out for a much smaller, but no less dedicated, hibernator.
The Marmot Project at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, is hosting Fat Marmot Week, celebrating yellow-bellied marmots that spend their summers bulking up to survive winter dormancy. Voting for the fattest marmot ran Aug. 24, 26 and 28, with the results factoring into a bracket of contenders. The marmot with the largest estimated weight is set to be announced Aug. 29, and the winner of the public popular vote follows a day later, on Aug. 30.
Like Katmai’s brown bears, yellow-bellied marmots bulk up to survive winter dormancy, the same instinct that fuels Fat Bear Week fame, just on a much smaller scale…