For years, Alaska's oversized brown bears hogged the spotlight every autumn. Not anymore. Colorado's rocky alpine zones are officially entering the viral weight-gain competition with the launch of the first-ever Fat Marmot Week.
If you love bracket-style internet contests featuring exceptionally round wild animals, you're in luck. Researchers at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado, have rolled out a public voting event to crown the chunkiest yellow-bellied marmot. Voting runs from August 24 through August 28, with the grand champion announced on August 29. While it sounds like a pure internet gimmick, a serious biological struggle drives the whole tournament.
The Science Behind the Bulking Season
Marmots aren't just getting heavy for internet amusement. They are true hibernators, meaning they face a grueling battle against nature to pack on enough mass to survive months underground without eating.
Professor Julien Martin from the University of Ottawa and UCLA Professor Daniel Blumstein oversee the Marmot Project, which ranks as the second-longest-running mammal study in the world. Started back in 1962, the project monitors how these cat-sized ground squirrels respond to shifting environments.
Bears get called "cheaters" in the hibernation world by researchers because their body temperatures barely drop and females even give birth during the winter. Marmots take a much more extreme route. Their body temperatures plunge near freezing, and they more than double their body weight over the summer months.
Why This Contest Matters Right Now
Climate change and erratic weather patterns are wreaking havoc on alpine survival rates. Last winter proved brutal for local populations in Colorado, where shifting snow cover left underground burrows poorly insulated. Researchers noted that roughly two-thirds of one monitored population didn't survive the freezing months.
With federal funding cuts threatening long-term ecological research, scientists are turning to public engagement to keep their decades-long monitoring projects afloat. Turning individual marmots into social media celebrities brings much-needed attention and donations to field biology.
Contestants on the ballot feature distinct personal histories. Take a marmot named Stonehenge, for instance. After losing her pups to a badger attack, she focused entirely on self-care and packed on serious mass. Voters can track these individual journeys online, learning about social hierarchies, survival tactics, and animal behavior while casting their daily ballots.
Check out the official contestant profiles and cast your vote before the final round closes on August 28. Support field research or simply enjoy watching nature's most dedicated bulkers get ready for a long winter's nap.
