I’ve never been to Alaska, but it’s definitely on my bucket list. Ever since I read John McPhee’s Coming Into the Country, which described Alaska’s spectacular wilderness and quirky people, I’ve wanted to go.
One stop I will have to make is Katmai National Park, where about 2,200 huge brown bears live, hunt, mate, and eat. And boy, do they eat. Alaska’s brown bears have access to abundant, high-protein food sources, primarily lipid-rich salmon runs, marine life, and lush coastal vegetation. Because of this rich diet, they grow much larger than their inland cousins, grizzly bears, often weighing 800 to more than 1,200 pounds.
In 2014, then-park ranger Mike Fitz was scrolling through the comments on the Explore.org live webcam feed of Katmai’s Brooks Falls. He saw a fan post side-by-side photos of the exact same bear — one taken when it emerged skinny from hibernation in June, and another from late September after months of gorging on sockeye salmon.
Struck by the dramatic physical transformation, Fitz and a few fellow rangers ran a single-day online bracket contest on September 30, 2014, calling it “Fat Bear Tuesday.” They posted before-and-after photo pairings on Facebook and invited the public to vote via “likes” for the bear that had fattened up the most.
The bit was so popular that they expanded it the next year to “Fat Bear Week.” The park expanded it to a full-week event in October 2015, and people from all over the world were tuning into the livestream from Explore.org to vote for their favorites.
Last year’s winner was “Chunk,” a mammoth beast weighing more than 1,200 pounds. Check out the haunches on this beauty.
Words to familiarize yourself with before Fat Bear Week starts on Tuesday:
Hefty — Packing extra poundage
Hoss — Has its own gravitational pull
Wide Load — Please allow extra room at Brooks Falls
Built Different — Mostly made of salmon
Mega Chonk — Final boss of chonks
Big Back… pic.twitter.com/oH0lBFom4r— U.S. Department of the Interior (@Interior) September 19, 2026
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum got in on the fun.
It’s Fat Bear Week! @Interior manages over 500 million acres of public lands, including the pristine wilderness of Katmai National Park. After months of feasting on salmon in the Brooks River, Katmai’s brown bears are now at their largest size.
Vote for your favorite:…
— Secretary Doug Burgum (@SecretaryBurgum) September 22, 2026
Here’s this year’s “Bracket Reveal” courtesy of Explore.org:
The event this year features 16 bears facing off in a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. All voting is done online at www.fatbearweek.org, with the winner declared Sept. 29. The public can watch the bears on explore.org’s livestream cameras before deciding on their favorite.
“Fat bears are successful bears,” the nonprofit’s website says. They gorge on the abundant salmon that return to the Brooks River starting in late June in order to accumulate fat reserves, sometimes chomping the fish in midair as they make their way upstream to spawn.
Adult male brown bears typically weigh 600 to 900 pounds (about 270 to 410 kilograms) in midsummer. By the time they are ready to hibernate after feasting on migrating and spawning salmon — each eats as many as 30 fish per day — large males can weigh well over 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms). Females are about one-third smaller. During winter hibernation, the bears do not eat or drink and lose one-third of their body weight.
This is Grazer, who in 2024 became the first female to be named Fat Bear Champion.
Introducing your 2024 Fat Bear Week 👑 128 GRAZER! The first working mom to ever be crowned champion. pic.twitter.com/Ukl85qkUHG
— explore.org (@exploreorg) October 9, 2024
Ok, OK. I couldn’t resist.
We heard that Fat Bear Week is coming? Stay tuned for the bracket 🐻 pic.twitter.com/tNwsOkYGSX
— explore.org (@exploreorg) September 12, 2026
This is easily one of the most successful government initiatives in history, rivaled only by the “NORAD Tracks Santa” initiative, a Christmas Eve tradition since 1955. Fat Bear Week draws several hundred thousand votes every year.
The bears, like the dolphins in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, are grateful for all the fish.
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