Ask a Question Game - Backwater Thread

"

1453R wrote:

Spoiler

That was a really good question. I should start drafting real zingers like that myself.

Yeah, me too.

Q.) Which type of bear?

Brown bear. In particular, Otis.

"

A bear in Alaska is now famous - and he probably has no idea why.

This week the Katmai National Park Service declared a brown bear named Otis to be the fattest bear caught on camera. The park decided with a Facebook competition after allowing visitors to vote on a series of photos of some of its resident bears. Otis's actual weight, however, remains a mystery.

"We don't have a scale quite big enough," Anela Ramos, a representative for the Katmai National Park, told The Dodo about the roughly 20-year-old bear. "But we estimate about 1,000 pounds, give or take."

The average weight for a male brown bear is around 700 pounds.

Besides being decidedly plump, Otis has one floppy ear and a distinctive dark blonde coat. He's also missing two front teeth. "That makes it really impressive that he's been able to eat so much salmon," Ramos said. "We all know how difficult it is to eat after going to the doctor and getting some teeth pulled!"

Otis lives in the Brooks River region of the Katmai National Park and Preserve, but in the summer, he stays in one spot - a section in the river perfect for salmon fishing. "We call it 'his office' or 'Otis's office,'" Ramos said. "He patiently waits for fish to come up to him, and he's so diligent that he actually sleeps in his office while fishing. He's one of the bears people can watch regularly on the bear cam."

So what’s Otis’s secret to becoming a champion fat bear? Basically: Don’t move very much and let the food come to you. “He’s a zen master, Otis, he sits there and waits for the fish to come to him and he doesn’t expend any energy unnecessarily,” park volunteer David Kopshever said in a Facebook video.

The park elaborated in another Facebook post: “It’s survival of the fattest in the bear world, and 480 Otis has found some seriously successful strategies for plumping up. Fishing primarily in the far pool (AKA Otis’s office,) 480 stays out of harm’s way, avoiding more dominant bears like 856 and 747, who prefer to fish in the productive ‘jacuzzi’ area. With patience and learned experience, Otis saves his energy by remaining in one place all day, converting salmon into the maximum amount of lard around his belly.”

Otis, who is believed to be 19 or 20 years old, has been seen eating as many as 40 fish per day, which—combined with his massive weight—means he’ll be well prepared for winter. This is also the second time he’s won the fattest bear award.

"Otis may not be the most dominant or lively bear around, but he is the fattest," the park wrote in a Facebook post.

Otis's physique is certainly a sight to behold, but his weight also signals a healthy ecosystem. "Seeing big fat healthy bears is an indicator of a healthy environment," Ramos said. "If we were to see them emaciated, then there's something wrong with the system."

Q: If you could choose one fantasy race to inhabit earth, which would it be, and why?

"

1453R wrote:

Q.) Imagine you are given the ability to summon the gold swirling around in molten from in the core of the earth to the surface. There's billions of times more of it down there than there is up here on the surface, wealth vast beyond imagining - as well as extreme danger. How do you decide to use this ability, knowing that you could at once be the richest and the most hunted person on Earth if you're not careful?

Extra points for detailed answer!

"

1453R wrote:

Q.) In a surprising fit of on-topicness for OT...describe the unique item you'd make if Charan bought a(nother) unique item and bequeathed it to you. Bonus points for describing why Charan has bequeathed this item to you in the fictional timeline this situation occurs in.

"

erdelyii wrote:

Q: Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast?