Very fat bear spotted on trail cam in northern Minnesota

Hefty black bear spotted near Voyageurs National Park

A black bear that has clearly been bulking up for winter was spotted on one of the Voyager Wolf Project's trail cameras near Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota. Video credit: Voyageurs Wolf Project

(FOX 9) - Voyageurs Wolf Project’s trail cameras captured a chunky black bear in norther Minnesota this fall before it headed into hibernation.

The video of the bear was captured on Oct. 7 on a trail camera located just south of Voyageurs National Park, according to Dr. Thomas Gable, project lead for the Voyageurs Wolf Project.

"This might be THE fattest bear we have ever seen in our area," the nonprofit wrote on Twitter. "It worked hard for that body!"

The big black bear rivals some of the chunkiest brown bears featured in Katmai National Park’s annual Fat Bear Week competition.

The Voyageurs Wolf Project is a University of Minnesota research project focused on understanding the summer ecology of wolves in and around Voyageurs National Park and northern Minnesota.