<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=1ToiFa_1Edo8nJL00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=1ToiFa_1Edo8nJL00" width="1200" height="600" >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.The Marmot Project has tracked individual marmots at the research station since 1962, making it the second-longest-running study of marked mammals in the world, according to RMBL.Fat Bear Week, by contrast, is run by the Katmai Conservancy and the National Park Service, with the public voting in single-elimination matchups to pick Katmai’s most successful bear each year. Last year’s title went to Bear 32, known as “Chunk,” who won despite grappling with a broken jaw for much of the season.Both contests lean on the same appeal: turning serious wildlife research into a lighthearted celebration of an animal doing exactly what it’s supposed to do before winter.If you would like to help crown a champion, click here.See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com</div></body>

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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.

Fat Bear Week now has a furry, snack-sized rival

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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 in

Fat Bear Week now has a furry, snack-sized rival

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