Battle for heavyweight crown begins as Alaska's Fat Bear Week opens
After a summer spent packing away sockeye salmon, Alaska's heftiest brown bears are ready to throw their weight around.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Online voting commenced on Tuesday for Fat Bear Week, the annual competition that pits the heaviest brown bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve against one another for the title of most rotund. Last year's victor, Chunk, whose official name is Bear 32, is eager to claim the crown once more. Chunk's weight in 2025 was estimated at 1,200 pounds, securing his victory narrowly.
This year, he faces off against other plump contenders like Gully, also known as Bear 903, the offspring of two-time champion Grazer.
The contest, now in its 12th year, aims to showcase the resilience of the 2,200 brown bears that inhabit the preserve on the Alaska Peninsula, stretching from the state's southwest corner towards the Aleutian Islands. Fat Bear Week was initiated in 2014 as an interactive means to educate the public about brown bears, the coastal cousins of grizzlies.
This year, the event features 16 bears participating in a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. All voting takes place online at www.fatbearweek.org, with the winner to be announced on September 29. The public can observe the bears via explore.org's livestream cameras prior to casting their vote.
The website explains that "fat bears are successful bears." They feast on the abundant salmon that return to the Brooks River starting in late June, amassing fat reserves by consuming the fish midair as they swim upstream.
Written by urgent.news from Mongabay's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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