Meet Fat Marmot Week, Colorado's answer to Fat Bear Week

• The inaugural competition will follow yellow-bellied marmots as they race to pack on pounds for winter.
• The more rotund the rodent, the better its odds of surviving months of hibernation.

How it works: Starting Aug. 24, the public can vote for the chubbiest marmot in a bracket-style tournament modeled after Alaska's beloved contest.

Yes, but: Beneath all the fluff is serious science.

• "Marmots give us a window on the health of high-alpine ecosystems," biologist Dan Blumstein, who leads the lab's long-running Marmot Project research initiative, said in a statement.

The intrigue: The contest comes as federal research cuts have put the lab's marmot studies, ongoing since 1962, under financial pressure.

• As a result, Blumstein and his team have turned to an unconventional fundraiser — posting wholesome marmot videos on OnlyFans under the account OnlyMarms, promising "uncensored marmot content" — to raise money and awareness for the lab's research.

The bottom line: As Blumstein put it to the New York Times, "All the marmots are minors, but we have to do this for science education."