Did you know that Alaska is one of the few places in the world where three kinds of bears live? I am speaking of the brown bear, the black bear and the polar bear. If you were wondering where Kung Fu Panda’s cousins (the panda bears) live, you’ll find them far far away from Alaska. Hint: a place where people make noodles that don’t come in Maggi or Top Ramen packets.
Bear trivia: Polar bears have white hair. But their skin colour is black.
I love bears. Tell me more.
One morning in 2014, Mike Fritz - who was one of the park rangers at Alaska’s Katmai national park, was adjusting the video cameras hanging from a tree. He was walking along a river where a group of brown bears were having fun and gulping down some fish. The bears grinned at him and he returned a friendly wave and walked away. Mike loved his bears and knew every single one of them by name. He knew their daily habits, when they woke up, who their friends were and who they often fought with.
As Mike walked ahead, he took out his smartphone to check if the videos from the camera on the tree were being uploaded on the internet. These pictures and videos were being live-streamed to children and their parents across the world. While Mike loved his bears, he was not too sure if anyone else in the world cared about them or watched these videos. He was in for a surprise.
I hope this is a happy story! (…of course, or I won’t be writing this)
Before we go on with the story of what happened to Mike and his bears, a quick detour into the world of science. For those of you living far north of the equator and reading this newsletter, you must be getting your woollens and winter jackets out of your attics / trunks. Everyone else within smelling distance of the equator (that includes myself) - you must still be facing the wrath of the afternoon sun. But no matter where we are, one thing that is common to all of us is that - we’ll still be chewing & gobbling tasty food come November. Guess who won’t be eating anything after October? That’s our friends - the bears.
Is it the fasting festival for bears? Think of it like a really long Ramadan / Vrat / Lent festival for bears. They’ll snooze (a.k.a sleep) for the next six months.
Science teachers call this hibernation. Bears eat and drink nothing while they hibernate. They do not pee or poop (i.e. urinate or defecate) either during this time.
This of course means that bears get to skip school and have an excellent reason for ignoring their parents’ orders for a full six months (hibernating is looking really interesting right?).
Back to Mike and his bears
Mike put his smartphone back into his pocket and walked to the visitor center of the Katmai National Park. A curious visitor (a lady who loved wildlife and googled trivia every now and then) pointed out to him a photo of a bear taken earlier in May, and a photo of the same bear taken later in Sep. This visitor was intrigued by how bulky the same bear looked, just five months apart. Mike was excited to show off his bear trivia and stories. He told her about how bears bulk up (by eating a ton of food) before they go off to sleep the next six months. He also told her what this particular bear (in the photo) loved to eat every day. Which is when the visitor asked a question that was very interesting -
Does a bulkier bear sleep better?
Mike and his fellow ranger friends beamed at this visitor and explained to her how a fatter / bulkier bear = happier bear (since they get a nice sound sleep through winter). Just then the bell rang for the next guided tour to begin. The visitor lady thanked Mike and walked away to join her group.
But the visitor’s question was still ringing in Mike’s head. He wondered if there were others out there who would like to take a look at how bears bulk up between May and October each year. Maybe they would like to vote for the happiest bear?
Since 2014, every year, children and their parents around the world get to watch the camera feeds from the riverside of this national park, and vote for their favourite (a.k.a happiest bear) that year. This year (2023), I managed to get some inside story from Sammy the bear and how he feels about this whole event. Excited to hear this scoop? Click on the button below to listen to his story, as I narrate it in the podcast.
Bear Question for you - Of the three, the brown bear, the black bear and the polar bear - which is the smallest? If you know the answer to this, leave it in the comment below OR you can email it to me. Don’t forget to click the ‘LIKE’ button if you enjoyed this post so far.
Would you like to participate and vote for bears at the Katmai National Park? It’s open this year from Oct 4 to Oct 11. Click on the button below to watch the bears and get ready to vote.
Nice!!!