Fat Bear Week: Meet 480 Otis, winner of Alaska's unusual contest

480 Otis on the hunt for sockeye salmon in Brooks River

The winner of Alaska's popular Fat Bear Week contest has been revealed... it's Otis the brown bear!

Or 480 Otis to give him his full name!

He's already won the competition three times, and this year beat the runner-up by more than 6,000 public votes.

The competition takes places every year and annual competition comparing the pre-hibernation weight gain of the largest inhabitants of Katmai national park.

Hibernation prep

Gaining weight is essential for bears heading into hibernation over the winter, allowing them to emerge healthy when spring comes around.

For this reason they eat a lot over the short summer and autumn season in Alaska, eating a lot of fish, berries and roots, grass and small land creatures.

Fans were excited to see him as the underdog of Fat Bear Week this year, as he also got a late start on his feeding and was very thin at the beginning on the season.

Staff and photographers inside the park document the transformations of the furry residents for the online tournament, which champions Katmai's conservation efforts.

The transformation of 480 Otis before....

...and after his big feed in preparation for winter.

Adult male bears usually weigh between 600 to 900lb (270 kg to 408 kg)and can weigh 1,000lb (453 kg) by the time they begin hibernation.

Nearly 800,000 votes were cast this year before Otis was crowned on Fat Bear Tuesday, the final round of the weeklong contest.

He has long been one of the most popular bears at Katmai national park and even has his own social media account.