At a Glance
- Fat Bear Week pits the biggest bears at Katmai National Park against each other for voters to pick the fattest bear.
- This year, new bears are participating.
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For animal lovers, this may be one of the most anticipated weeks of the year. Fat Bear Week gives voters the opportunity to pick the fattest grizzly at Alaska’s Katmai National Park.
(MORE: Bear Climbs Atop Table In ‘Wild’ Picnic Video)
The bears spend all summer feasting on salmon and hit peak weight around October of every year in preparation for hibernation. The weight they’ve gained over the summer and early fall will help sustain them through the long, cold winter.
Here’s Who’s Competing
Bear 747
Bear 747 is more than 20 years old and is one of the largest bears on Earth. At one time he was estimated to weigh as much as 1,400 pounds. He was the Fat Bear champion as well as the 2020 Fat Bear champion. 747’s biggest rivals are 32 Chunk and Bear 856, and this year, he deferred to both of them as opposed to previous years, possibly due to his age.
435 Holly
Holly won the 2019 Fat Bear Week championship. She is the mother of several cubs, at least one of which was adopted and raised and nursed alongside a biological cub of hers. Holly is also known as “Bear 435,” and this year appeared without any cubs alongside her. But that’s not to say that her mothering years are over.
128 Grazer
“Grazer,” or Bear 128, is competing again this year. She is a skilled fisher at the Brooks River with many fishing spots available to her due to her fishing abilities and rank among the bears on the river. She is also known to fish at night, which not all bears do.
Grazer has raised two successful litters of cubs and has been a fierce defender of her babies. This reputation gives her a high level of dominance among the bears, even as she appeared cubless this summer, with many of the larger bears avoiding her presence.
151 Walker
“Walker,” also known as Bear 151, is another of the river’s most dominant bears, though he was silly and playful as a cub. He now maintains his dominance by displacing other large bears from preferred fishing spots. His biggest challengers are 856 and 128 Grazer.
Bear 901
Bear 901 competed in the final match of 2022’s Fat Bear Week, and this spring, she emerged with three bear cubs born in hibernation. 901 was a more cautious fisher this year, sticking to spots where fewer bears are present to protect herself and her cubs, such as the river mouth area. One of her cubs has not been seen since mid-September after disappearing while 901 fished in the lower Brooks River.
480 Otis
Otis, or Bear 480, a fan favorite, is a four-time Fat Bear champion, including in 2021’s competition. Otis is between 26 and 28 years old, and is now facing more competition from younger adult males along the river. He is also struggling with the loss of some teeth, and appeared at the Brooks River in late July looking emaciated.
Otis is known for waiting for salmon to come to him rather than actively hunting them. This year, despite his early-season condition, was no exception, and the bear gained an impressive amount of body mass before summer’s end using his typical feeding tactics.
32 Chunk
Aptly named “Chunk,” or Bear 32, this adult male is one of the largest and most dominant bears along the Brooks River this year, but that wasn’t always the case. In years prior, Chunk was playful and hesitant to challenge other bears, preferring to wait to scavenge leftover salmon. However, this year, even 747 deferred the best fishing spots to Chunk due to Chunk's emerging dominance.
164 Bucky Dent
This medium-sized adult male prefers to catch salmon at Brooks Falls’ deepest plunge pool, away from where other bears tend to fish. The spot hasn’t been known to be used this way by bears in the past. Bucky Dent will become more dominant as he grows and will gain access to more productive fishing spots on the river. He has already grown a lot in the 2023 season.
402
This large adult female has mothered at least eight litters, more than any other bear that currently fishes along the Brooks River. Her adept fishing skills have helped her provide for her many cubs, and she can often be found fishing on the lip of Brooks Falls with her babies. This year, she has been caring for a single yearling after losing the cub’s sibling in 2022.
(MORE: Bear Mom Takes a Pool Break From Her Cubs)
428
Bear 428 is a 3.5-year-old female that was born to 128 Grazer. Last year, she could be seen following her mother along the falls, but this year is prowling the river as an independent subadult bear. She was fishing along the lip of the falls at a young age, a spot that many bears compete for and young bears are often displaced from, but as an independent bear without her mother’s protection, the best fishing spots are not as readily accessible to her this year.
806's Spring Cub
As the 2023 Fat Bear Junior champion (voting for Fat Bear Junior took place in September), this first-year male will compete against the adults during Fat Bear Week. 806's spring cub was given the opportunity to fish at Brooks Falls with the bigger bears along side mom, Bear 806. This is quite rare for young cubs, as the competition with large adults puts smaller bears at risk. On several occasions, the cub was swept up by the river's current and over the waterfall, and he even sustained an attack from a large adult male when his mother was swept over the waterfall. However, these incidents didn't dissuade the mother and son pair away from the dangerous river.
More About Fat Bear Week And The Bears
Some of the largest bears in the world live and feed along the Brooks River at Katmai National Park. The adult males can weigh well over 1,000 pounds by October and November, while adult females weigh about a third less than adult males. Katmai is home to an estimated 2,200 bears, but only 11 made the bracket in the 2023 competition. Many of the competitors have been fan favorites over the years, and the public gets the opportunity to get acquainted with some of the younger bears in the Fat Bear Junior competition.
(MORE: Bear Sighting At A Squamish, British Columbia, Restaurant)
Voting begins at 9 a.m. Pacific time (12 p.m. EDT) on Wednesday, Oct. 4, when voters cast their ballots for the first round, in which 428 and 806's Spring Cub compete and 402 and 901 face off. Participants are invited to vote every day through Tuesday, Oct. 10, when the finals take place. Bear lovers can also check out the Brooks Falls livecam to see the bears in action.
Fat Bear Week has been an annual event since 2014, when it began as Fat Bear Tuesday. The competition quickly became Fat Bear Week upon its return in 2015. Fat Bear Week celebrates the spring and summer success of amazing animals and the transformation they undergo from one hibernation to the next, as well as seeks to educate animal lovers and the public about Katmai National Park’s grizzlies.
Senior editor Nicole Bonaccorso works as weather.com's photo editor and writes about breaking news, travel, climate and more.
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