The female fat bear that's as dominant as the big, bad male bears

[Jilly_in_VA]

Welcome to Fat Bear Week 2021! Katmai National Park and Preserve’s brown bears spent the summer gorging on 4,500-calorie salmon, and they've transformed into rotund giants, some over 1,000 pounds. The Alaskan park is holding its annual playoff-like competition for the fattest of the fat bears (you can vote online between Sept. 29 through Oct. 5). Mashable will be following all the ursine activity.

Among the fat bear titans stands a fearless bear mama.

The fat bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve live in a world defined by an intense hierarchy. And in this pecking order the biggest bears, typically males, earn access to the best fishing spots.

But some female bears, particularly bear 128 (aka "Grazer&quot have bucked the hierarchy. This summer, Grazer, an aggressive bear, established her presence among the big boys in Katmai's salmon-filled Brooks River. When bears would move into her territory, she would often hold her ground, and sometimes attack.

"Grazer has been a force this year," said Mike Fitz, a former Katmai park ranger and currently a resident naturalist for explore.org, the foundation that runs the livestreamed bear cams. "There's an argument to be made that she is as dominant as the biggest adult males at the river."

https://mashable.com/article/fat-bear-week-dominant-bear-grazer