Gothic, Colorado - Fat bears best back up – it's marmot time! Researchers at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory have launched the very first Fat Marmot Week to celebrate Colorado's chonkiest hibernators.
"Fat Marmot Week is an opportunity to get folks excited about yellow-bellied marmots, one of our favorite alpine residents, and to share the science behind their weight gain," scientists wrote.
Marmots – like bears – hibernate all winter long to sustain and survive their winter slumber, so they need a respectable layer of fat. This means these round rodents in the ground squirrel family need to pack on pounds!
From August 24-29, the public can cast a vote for whichever marmot they think made the best gains in Colorado's Crested Butte area in a bracket-style battle.
Fat Marmot Week is basically the Rocky Mountain response to Alaska's humongousily popular Fat Bear Week.
It promises to be a fun marmot awareness campaign – the researchers even announced the coming contest on their Instagram with a banger of a teaser.
Plus, the RMBL scientists already won over the internet with their creative response to the withdrawal of federal research funding. They created an OnlyFans page for their marmots, and it's gotten a whole lot of attention!
Don't worry, the OnlyMarms isn't anything scandalous – it just shows videos and pics of cute marmots.
Each week until voting begins, corporeal contenders will be introduced on the contest website and Instagram. This week, the team introduced a cute chubster known by her furmark, "dans_hat."
Stay tuned to TAG24 NEWS to find out more about the cubby critters in the first-ever Fat Marmot Week.