Fat Bear Week returns: Alaska's brown bears compete for the 'fattest' title
Katmai National Park in Alaska is hosting its 12th annual Fat Bear Week, inviting the public to vote for the brown bear judged most successful at packing on weight before hibernation. Sixteen bears are in the running this year, including 2025 champion Chunk, known as Bear 32.
What is Fat Bear Week
Since 2014, Katmai National Park and Preserve — home to roughly 2,200 brown bears — has run the competition to draw public attention to the animals and their remarkable preparation for winter. Each year, people around the world vote online for the bear they believe gained the most weight over the summer and autumn ahead of several months of hibernation.
Why bulking up matters
Explore.org naturalist Mike Fitz told the Associated Press that fat reserves are essential to the bears' survival: because they neither eat nor drink during hibernation, they must build up enough fat in roughly six months to last the entire year, and can lose around a third of their body weight over that period. Adult male brown bears typically weigh between 270 and 410 kilograms, though the largest, best-fed individuals can top 450 kilograms after gorging on salmon; females are usually about a third smaller.
According to Fitz, the heaviest bear does not automatically win — voters are also asked to weigh each animal's story, such as how a dominant adult male's bulk helps him control the best fishing spots at Brooks Falls.
Salmon and bear life
Fitz pointed to the strong sockeye salmon runs in Alaska's Bristol Bay as an example of what a healthy river ecosystem can support, and why restoring declining salmon populations elsewhere matters. The competition also gives viewers a window into bears' daily lives — from successful fishing trips and playful moments between bears to the hardships mothers face feeding cubs, including the loss of young.
This year's contest
Sixteen bears are competing this year, including reigning champion Chunk (Bear 32), who weighed 544 kilograms when he won in 2025. Fitz said this year's outcome is hard to predict, as several bears are unusually large. Voting for the final round closes on Tuesday, 29 September. As Euronews.com reports, Google has also marked the occasion: searching "Fat Bear Week" brings up an animated bear on screen that users can feed salmon to help it survive the winter.
