Forget the summer diet, October is all about putting on as much weight as possible for a warm, comfortable winter – or at least that's the case for the brown bears of Katmai National Park.
The park is currently celebrating its 10th annual fat bear tournament – now known as Fat Bear Week – where members of the public get to vote for which bear they think has what it takes to survive the winter.
“Shake off your seasonal blues, because the election we all need is almost here,” says Explore.org, which provides live cams of the bears on Instagram.
What is Fat Bear Week?
During Fat Bear Week, people from around the world cast their votes in a daily head-to-head, deciding which tubby teddy deserves to be crowned as the plumpest.
At the end of the elimination tournament, 2024’s winning chonk will join bears including Otis, Beadnose and Holly in the Hall of Champions.
“Fat bears are successful bears,” says Explore.org. “They exemplify the richness of Katmai National Park and Bristol Bay, Alaska, a wild region that is home to more brown bears than people and the largest, healthiest runs of sockeye salmon left on the planet.”
“Over the summer, these bears gorge on salmon to build up the crucial fat reserves that help them endure the harsh Alaskan winter,” adds the Katmai Conservancy.
Some of the world’s largest brown bears live in Katmai National Park. Adult males weigh on average 317–408 kg in mid-summer before piling on the pounds by feasting on rich foods – usually salmon – to fatten up for their winter hibernation. During this time, they won’t eat or drink for several months and can lose a third of their bodyweight. They need to be as chunky as possible to survive the long winter. These girthy grizzlies do not disappoint, sometimes tipping the scales at over 544 kg in the autumn.
The National Park Service, Explore.org, and the Katmai Conservancy come together to celebrate these hefty bears in October, when they are at their fattest, by sharing before and after photos for people to vote on. In 2023, people from over 100 countries cast nearly 1.4 million votes.
“It’s not just about the pounds—it’s about the journey. Every bear has a story, and each one has faced unique challenges along the way, from securing prime fishing spots to navigating the ever-changing Brooks River,” says the Katmai Conservancy.
This year’s chubby competitors include: Chunk, an adult male with narrowly-set eyes, a prominent brow ridge and a distinctive scar across his muzzle who is described as having a “low hanging belly and ample hindquarters [that] bear the fruit of his summer success”; Grazer, a female with “conspicuously blonde ears” who lost one of her cubs in July 2024 after it was swept over the falls and attacked by Chunk; and Gully who cunningly launched surprised attacked on habituated flocks of gulls in the water so he didn’t have to compete with larger bears for salmon fishing spots.
When is Fat Bear Week?
This year, Fat Bear Week’s kick off was delayed after a fatal bear fight was caught on livestream. An adult male called 469 killed an older female named 402.
“The situation that we dealt with today was difficult to witness,” says Explore.org’s resident naturalist Mike Fitz. “We love to celebrate the success of bears with full stomachs and ample body fat but the ferocity of bears is real. The risks that they face are real. Their lives can be hard and their deaths can be painful.”
After the shocking setback, Fat Bear Week 2024 is now underway and the grizzly with the biggest gut will be crowned on 8 October 2024.
How to vote in Fat Bear Week
To vote for the fattest bear of the year, head over to the Fat Bear Week website.
Main image: Chunk the bear/NPS-E. Johnston
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