Welcome to Fat Bear Week 2019! Katmai National Park's bears spent the summer gorging on 4,500-calorie salmon, and they've transformed into rotund giants, some over 1,000 pounds. The park is holding its annual playoff-like competition for the fattest of the fat bears (you can vote online between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8), and Mashable will be following the ursine activity. Every bear is a winner. They endure harsh, brutal lives , months of famine (hibernation), violent fights , and incessant threats by competitors . Yet, at the conclusion of Fat Bear Week, there must be a single champion . The annual online competition, while certainly fun, is a valuable way for us to appreciate the perseverance of wild animals that still live wild lives in Alaska's untrammeled, undeveloped ( for now, anyway ) wilderness, a land teeming with wolverines, lynx, salmon, and bald eagles. Read more... More about Bears , Katmai National Park , Fat Bear Week 2019 , Science , and Climate Environ...