Fat Bear Week Is Here: Meet The Fluffy Frontrunners

It was a close call. If the U.S. government had shut down, then Fat Bear Week would have been taken away from us. With the shutdown averted, the full glory of a pun-tastic week dedicated to boisterous bruins is upon us.

Fat Bear Week is a celebration of the brown bears of Katmai National Park in Alaska and what it takes for them to successfully prepare for winter hibernation. A bear’s future relies on its ability to fatten up to survive the lean months of winter. The bears are stars of a series of livecams run by Explore.org along the scenic Brooks River.

The cameras bring the world into the bears’ Alaskan home. Explore.org shared a video of fan-favorite Holly showing off her fishing skills.

Fat Bear Week officially kicks off on October 4, but the festivities began in earnest with a bracket reveal on Monday. Representatives from Explore.org and Katmai National Park unveiled the 12 heavyweight contenders.

Each animal is worthy of its place, but there are two notable frontrunners, 32 Chunk and 128 Grazer. Katmai rangers Naomi Boak and Felicia Jimenez highlighted the big bruins as top contestants for 2023 during the bracket reveal. Chunk has a scar on his muzzle and has grown into one of the most dominant males on the river. “Thirty-two Chunk is a monster,” said Boak. Chunk has made it to the final round, but has never won. This might be his year.

Grazer is an adult female with very blonde ears. She’s know for her top-tier fishing skills and toughness in defending her cubs. Her before-and-after pictures from July and September are stunning. Talk about a glow-up.

Katmai National Park’s brown bears are true behemoths. The adult males can top 1,200 pounds after bulking up over the summer. The Brooks River offers a steady supply of salmon to help them in their quest for girth. A bear named 747, affectionately known as Bear Force One, took the crown in 2022 despite a voting scandal. The National Park Service estimated 747 once weighed in at 1,400 pounds, but he likely isn’t quite that big this year.

The contest has been around for nearly a decade, but has turned into a social media juggernaut in recent years. The National Park Service goes into promotional overdrive. Website visits to Explore.org increase by about 50% during the big week, director of new media Candice Rusch told me over email.

The competition is a single-elimination tournament that ends with the crowning of the chubbiest champ. If you’re torn about which buxom bear to vote for, then consider Explore.org’s advice: “For each match-up, vote for the bear you believe best exemplifies fatness.” That could mean voting for the roundest contestant, or you could engage with the bears’ stories and vote for ones that faced challenges throughout the year. For example, mother bears also provide for their cubs, so they may not get as chunky as bachelor or bachelorette bears with less responsibilities. Explore the contestants’ biographies on the Meet the Bears page.

The contest runs through October 10 when the winner will be named after tallying the final vote. Fans of bulging bears cast over a million votes last year.

There are no losers during Fat Bear Week. The bears get bulky and put themselves in a good position to make it through the winter. The public, no matter where they’re tuning in from around the world, gets to learn about wildlife and feel connected to Katmai National Park. Bear fans can get behind their favorites and join in the wholesome social media frenzy.

Fat Bear Week is an oasis of fluff and chunkiness in a hectic world. May the most mammoth mammal win.

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