All About Fat Bear Week, A Competition To Be The Chonkiest Brown Bear

Voting for the annual Fat Bear Week contest begins Tuesday at www.fatbearweek.org, with the champion to be announced on September 30.

Washington:

Following a summer of feasting on sockeye salmon, the most rotund brown bears of Alaska Peninsula will compete in the highly anticipated online voting competition known as Fat Bear Week to determine which bear reigns supreme in plumpness.

Starting Tuesday, online voters will choose among 11 enormous brown bears plus "128 Junior," the winner of last week's cub competition. This young bear is the offspring of "Grazer," the two-time Fat Bear Week champion at Katmai National Park and Preserve who is seeking her third consecutive title.

Initiated in 2014, this popular contest highlights the remarkable resilience of brown bears who accumulate substantial weight each autumn to endure the harsh winter. They accomplish this primarily by consuming salmon along the Brooks River in the remote preserve located approximately 300 miles (482 kilometers) southwest of Anchorage, accessible only by aircraft. The public can observe these magnificent creatures via explore.org's livestream cameras before casting their votes for their preferred bear.

The 12 contenders announced Monday will participate in a bracket-style, single-elimination tournament. All voting takes place online at www.fatbearweek.org, culminating with the champion announcement on September 30.

In the first round, eight bears will compete in four separate matchups. The four victors will advance to the second round where they'll face four bears who received first-round byes.

Katmai National Park, spanning 6,562 square miles (16,997 square kilometers) on the Alaska Peninsula extending from the state's southwest corner toward the Aleutian Islands, hosts approximately 2,200 brown bears. To qualify for the competition, bears must regularly visit the main Brooks Camp area.

This year's contestants include several bears with distinctive personalities, including one nicknamed "Flotato" for its stomping dance, and another that places its paw over its heart as if pledging allegiance while awaiting fish.

Two contestants are former dominant males adapting to new circumstances. One has become the elderly statesman of the river, while another is coping with a permanently damaged jaw that will never properly heal.

The brown bears at Katmai rank among the world's largest. Mike Fitz, an explore.org naturalist who established the Fat Bear Contest during his tenure as a Katmai ranger, notes that only the bears of nearby Kodiak Island surpass them in size.

A typical male bear at Katmai weighs between 700 to 900 pounds (318 kg to 408 kg) in mid-summer and can expand to over 1,000 pounds (454 kg) by September or October after successful feeding. Even males reaching 1,400 pounds (635 kg) aren't uncommon.

Female bears generally measure about half to two-thirds the size of adult males.

The competition isn't solely based on size, as demonstrated by "Grazer" defeating the substantially larger "Chunk" in the past two years.

Voters often consider various challenges overcome by contestants, such as female bears who simultaneously protect their cubs, produce milk, and accumulate fat reserves for winter hibernation.

Although factors beyond mere size influence voting decisions, this year weight may play a more significant role.

Brooks Falls is renowned for scenes of brown bears catching salmon mid-air as the fish attempt to leap upstream to their spawning grounds.

This behavior was less frequent this year due to an exceptional salmon run that reduced competition for prime fishing spots at the falls.

"We are kind of expecting really to have some of the fattest bears we've ever seen in the event," Fitz remarked. In fact, one contestant has been dubbed "cruise ship" due to its extraordinary girth.

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