The annual celebration of nature’s beefy, brown, and bristly creatures is kicking off at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, where some of the planet’s chunkiest bears are preparing for their long winter slumber.
The much-anticipated Fat Bear Week begins on October 2, when fans can start voting online for their favorite hefty bears in a tournament-style bracket. On Tuesday, organizers unveiled the four cub contestants for this week’s Fat Bear Jr. contest, where the “chubby champ” will eventually face off against adult bears in the larger competition, as announced by Naomi Boak of the nonprofit Katmai Conservancy during a livestreamed event.
This annual contest, which garnered over 1.3 million votes last year, celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brown bears inhabiting the preserve on the Alaska Peninsula, stretching from the state’s southwestern corner toward the Aleutian Islands. Enthusiasts eagerly watch these bears via live cameras on explore.org all summer long, observing as they gorge on sockeye salmon returning to the Brooks River.
This year’s Fat Bear Jr. contestants include some familiar faces: both the 2022 and 2023 junior champions are vying for a repeat win. They remain eligible because they still meet the criteria for being considered cubs, including staying with a sow. While most cubs remain with their mother for approximately 2 1/2 years, the 2022 Fat Bear Jr. winner, known as 909 Jr., has stayed with an aunt and is almost 4 years old.
Adding an emotional twist, one contender is a spring cub of Grazer, last year’s Fat Bear champion. Sadly, this cub’s sibling died this summer after slipping over a small waterfall on the Brooks River and being killed by a dominant adult male known as Chunk, or Bear 32. The attack, captured on bear cams, saw Grazer attempt to fight off Chunk to save the cub, but to no avail.
Adult male brown bears typically weigh between 600 to 900 pounds (about 270 to 410 kilograms) in mid-summer. By the time they are ready to hibernate, after feasting on migrating and spawning salmon—each consuming up to 30 fish per day—large males can weigh well over 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms). Females are roughly one-third smaller.
The adult contestants for the Fat Bear Week tournament will be announced on September 30, with voting scheduled to take place from October 2 to October 8.
