Fat Bear Week gets competition as marmots aim to steal the show

Fat Bear Week gets competition as marmots aim to steal the show Marmots - animals related to the groundhog - have suffered a steep population decline following tough winter months leading researchers to organise an online contest Fat Bear Week is facing stiff competition this year - as the first ever Fat Marmot Week starts on Monday. The online contest has grown in popularity since it began in 2014 and allows people to vote for their favourite Alaskan brown bear that has piled on the pounds ahead of the winter months. Now researchers hope to emulate that success by creating Fat Marmot Week. The marmot is a cat-sized ground squirrel - related to the groundhog - that is found in burrows across North America, Europe and Asia. Last winter was tough on marmots living in the mountains of Colorado, where researchers believe two thirds of the population died while hibernating due to insufficient cover from the snow. Those that survived have managed to fatten up ahead of this year's hibernation season and sparked enough interest for the very first Fat Marmot Week. Punch the monkey's emotional update and new role at zoo is melting hearts While the contest is mostly for fun, it also has a serious element with scientists needing donations for their long-running research into the animals following federal funding cuts. They are known to live in "flexibly social" meaning that some intermingle in colonies up to 30 where they get into dramatic situations similar to our favourite soap operas. "In some sense, we’re going to be laughing our way down as the Titanic sinks," commented San Blumstein, leader of the project at the rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado. "Because what else are you going to do?"