You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.

Hey everybody, Maddie Sify here with a special election report.

Today, yes, today is the final day for you to cast your ballot online to determine who wins fat bear week.

If you didn't know, fat bear week is an annual single elimination tournament.

It celebrates the ability of bears in Catmine National Park in Alaska to pack on the pounds before hibernation to determine which bear truly dominated hashtag bulking season.

Which we at Shortwave love for several reasons.

One, body positivity. You love to see it.

Two, getting people excited about voting.

And three, excellent science communication.

We see you out here National Park Service, which is why today we're bringing you our episode about bear hibernation with large carnivore ecologist Ray Wynne Grant.

Oh, I love that they eat and sleep so much.

It's like honestly, they make me feel so close to them because their main drivers in life are about finding a lot of food so that they can sleep for a long time.

I've said it once. I'll say it again. Same bears. Same.

Anyway, we talked with Ray back in the spring when many bears were coming out of their dens.

And she spilled the tea on all the incredible things happening behind the scenes while the bears are still in hibernation mode.

Now, quick note here. Our conversation with Ray was about black bears.

And these gorgeous Alaskan bears are brown bears. But many of the basics of hibernation still apply. So stick around.

So before we really get into it with Ray, let's set some road rules.

First of all, we're sticking to American black bears. And what you need to know is that not all black bears hibernate.

It's all about how much food is around. And that changes based on where you live your bear life.

Black bears are kind of what we're going to be referring to as habitat generalists. And they're found all over North America.

So the bears in Florida and the Everglades don't usually hibernate.

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