"An Alaskan brown bear known as 409 Beadnose had her hands full with two new cubs in the summer of 2016. They remained at her side when she emerged from hibernation last year and set about fishing for sockeye salmon in Katmai National Park and Preserve. In other words, Beadnose was sharing the spoils.
Not this year. In the lingo of wildlife biologists, she “emancipated” those cubs, and this spring she emerged from a long winter’s snooze a lithe empty-nester. After a summer stuffing her maw with salmon that were hers and hers alone, Beadnose has the blubber to show for it.
On Tuesday, that remarkable expansion made 409 Beadnose — a name that combines her official, park-assigned number and a moniker inspired by her upturned snout — the winner of Katmai’s fourth annual Fat Bear Week contest. The battle played out on Facebook, where pairs of photos of bear bods, all regulars at the Brooks River buffet, were pitted side-by-side, and the winner of each round was the one that got the most likes. "
Karin Brulliard reports for the Washington Post October 9, 2018.
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