Alaska Man Monday: Fat Bears, and Bears Opening

This past week, we had our first onerous frost and our first magnificent auroras. In fact, on Monday morning, when I walked out into the darkish to go to the workplace, I used to be gobsmacked to see the sensible greens and blues in the sky overhead: 

One of the many issues to love about the Great Land. More on that in a bit right here, but first, a cautionary story. In fact, it’s one you’ll discover onerous to bear: When in the Great Land, beware of the bears, because now they’re opening truck doorways.

While out on a check run on Alaska’s North Slope, diesel mechanic Kadon Mroczkowski seen a number of parked vehicles unoccupied with their doorways broad open.

“‘What’s going on?’” he replied when requested what he was pondering. “There’s nothing in front. There’s no, like, cars. There’s nobody outside of the car. So, I’m kind of like, ‘Okay.’”

While that initially caught his consideration, it was the next factor he noticed that triggered a double-take.

A gaggle of brown bears was seen going truck to truck, opening the doorways on each in search of food.

Mroczkowski captured the second on video, creating a viral second for Alaska viewers.

What gave the second a humorous edge was the tactic the bears had been utilizing in their search for one thing good — casually opening each truck door without placing hardly a scratch on each one.

“I’ve never seen them get inside of a truck at all, ever, let alone close the door after he was done, too,” Mroczkowski said. “He was kind of least polite about it.

“He opened it, peeped in, was like, ‘Alright,’ closed it, dipped out. There was no food for him.”

Now that’s a new one. Bears, particularly browns and grizzlies (two variations of the same species), are more doubtless to just rip the doorways off. But opening them? That’s a complete new stage of scary. When parking your truck, make sure there’s no food left inside, and keep your eyes peeled for bears.

Alaska Man rating: 4 of 5 moose nuggets. It’s an entertaining story, and all’s effectively that ends effectively, but it might just as simply ended badly for people and bears alike.

 Read More:  Alaska Man Monday: Leftovers and Fat Bears

Speaking of bears – now we have a winner in Fattest Bear Week! Congratulations, “Chunk.” The people have spoken! The burliest bruin carrying the thickest and chubbiest tummy of all is none other than bear 32 — affectionately recognized as “Chunk.” I’ve it on good authority that the household of my good buddy and colleague Bob Hoge noticed this coming and solid a vote for Chunk, as did my spouse and I. He was the apparent alternative.

In the ultimate spherical of the annual Fat Bear Week contest on Tuesday, Chunk earned himself 96,350 votes, beating bear 856, who completed with 63,725 votes, according to Katmai National Park officers.

“They have no idea that they’re pitted against each other right now in this virtual thing that we call Fat Bear Week,” said Sarah Bruce, Katmai National Park Visual Information Specialist. “But they’re both highly successful, highly skilled bears.

“They look very well set up to survive the winter.”

Chunk is an grownup male grizzly estimated to be about 1,200 kilos.

This summer season, he broke his jaw due to what park officers say might have been a battle with another bear.

After that, Chunk had to relearn how to catch salmon, and has tailored fairly effectively, altering up his fishing strategy.

Chunk is just not only the fattest bear, then, but also a great survivor. Good on you, Chunk! Life is not as simple as one may suppose for an apex predator, and an injury like this can simply be deadly. Fortunately, Chunk appears to be not only surviving, but thriving.

Alaska Man rating: 5 fats bears.

Read More:  Alaska Man Monday – Moose Buggies and Fat Bears

Now, let’s look at a pretty Alaska morning.

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