ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Online voting for Fat Bear Week commenced on Tuesday, an annual contest that features the brown bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve competing for the title of the heaviest bear. Last year's champion, Chunk, also known as Bear 32, is aiming for a repeat victory after being estimated to weigh 1,200 pounds in 2025. This year, Chunk faces competition from Gully, also known as Bear 903, who is the offspring of two-time champion Grazer.
The contest, now in its 12th year, highlights the resilience of the approximately 2,200 brown bears residing in the preserve located on the Alaska Peninsula. Fat Bear Week was initiated in 2014 to engage the public in learning about brown bears, which are coastal relatives of grizzlies.
This year's event features 16 bears competing in a single-elimination tournament format. Voting takes place online at www.fatbearweek.org, with the winner to be announced on September 29. The public can view the bears through livestream cameras provided by explore.org before casting their votes.
According to the nonprofit's website, "Fat bears are successful bears." The bears consume large amounts of salmon that return to the Brooks River starting in late June to build fat reserves, with some bears eating as many as 30 fish per day.
Adult male brown bears typically weigh between 600 to 900 pounds (approximately 270 to 410 kilograms) in midsummer, but can exceed 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) by the time they prepare for hibernation. Female bears are generally about one-third smaller than males. During hibernation, bears do not eat or drink and can lose about one-third of their body weight.
Voters can view before-and-after photos of the bears, showing their transformation from lean to fattened. The bears are not weighed for the contest, and fans may choose their favorites based on appearance or individual stories.
To qualify for the contest, bears must frequent the area around the river. The live cameras at Brooks Falls previously captured an incident in 2024 involving mother bear 128 Grazer's cub, which fell over a waterfall and was attacked by Chunk. Following the incident, Grazer won the contest against Chunk, who returned in 2025 to reclaim the title.