It’s that time of year again, when audiences turn to a welcome distraction from the heavy news cycle: Katmai national park and preserve in southern Alaska is celebrating its fattest brown bears.
The park is set to kick off its annual Fat Bear Week on Tuesday, an online competition where the public votes for the park’s fattest brown bear.
The single-elimination tournament will run from 23 September to 30 September, with voting open daily from 12pm to 9pm eastern time. Each round pits two bears against each other, and the one with the most votes advances. The competition’s bracket is slated to be revealed on Monday, and only one bear will be crowned champion.
“The astonishing salmon runs in Katmai are essential to the survival of the park’s ecosystem and brown bears,” said Mark Sturm, Katmai superintendent. “Fat Bear Week enables people from around the world to actively engage in learning about bears while cheering for their favorite competitor.”
Some of the largest brown bears on Earth set up their homes along the Brooks River in Katmai, according to Explore.org, the philanthropic live-cam network transmitting the bears’ whereabouts. Bears in this area return to the river in mid- to late June, and stay nearby until late October, when the salmon run is over and it’s nearly time to hibernate, according to the National Park Service’s website.
Fat Bear Week highlights how the animals bulk up in preparation for winter hibernation, a period where they do not eat or drink for months and lose up to a third of their body weight.
To participate, voters select their preferred bear by clicking or tapping its photo online, and later confirm with an email. The results update once votes are cast, though the system limits one vote per email address.
Fat Bear Week is designed to educate viewers about the survival strategies of Katmai’s bears. Mother bears must put on enough fat to both endure hibernation and nurse cubs, while large males fight for busy fishing spots.
The competition dates back to 2014, with over a million votes cast for the bears in 2024 from one hundred countries. Last year’s champion was a brown bear named 128 Grazer, who took home the crown for the second year in a row, beating a behemoth male that killed her cub.
