Fat Bear Week returns: Help this Alaska national park name its biggest bear

KING SALMON, Alaska — It's about that time.

Wednesday marks the beginning of this year's Fat Bear Week, an annual tradition that celebrates roughly 2,200 brown bears that call Katmai National Park home, many of which are among the largest in the world. These bears are fattest in the late summer and early fall as they prepare for winter hibernation, park officials note.

Most adult male bears weigh between 700 and 900 pounds by this time in the year, though some can weigh as much as 1,200 pounds. Female bears tend to average about a half or a third of that because of the energy needed to raise cubs, according to the park service.

"To get fat, bears gorge on the richest and most easily obtainable foods they can find. In Katmai National Park, that most often means salmon," according to the agency. "Dozens of bears gather at Brooks River to feast on salmon from late June until mid-October. Perhaps no other river on Earth offers bears the chance to feed on salmon for so long."

What started as Fat Bear Tuesday in 2014 has morphed into an entire week of education and celebration of the bears' "success and survival" as they prepare for their peaceful winter slumber, according to park officials. People from all over the world are asked to vote for this year's biggest bear from a field of 12 bears, which are pitted against each other until one is crowned the champion next week.

This year's field features:

• 32 Chunk: An estimated 17 1/2-year-old brown bear "with narrowly-set eyes, a prominent brow ridge, and a distinctive scar across his muzzle.
• 128 Grazer: A large adult female with a long straight muzzle and conspicuously blond ears that was first spotted as a cub in 2005.
• 151 Walker: A large adult male with a light-bulb or pear-shaped body in September and October that first identified as an independent in 2009 at about 2 1/2 years old.
• 164: A small adult male that first ventured out as an independent just three years ago as a 2 1/2-year-old bear.
• 335: A medium-small subadult that ventured out to Brooks River this year for the first time as an independent. She's considered one of the youngest bears in this year's field.
• 435 Holly: A large adult female with blond ears and pale, tan-colored claw that was first identified 21 years ago. She won in 2019 and is also the mother of 335.
• 480 Otis: A medium-large adult male with a blocky muzzle and a floppy right ear. Otis is one of the oldest bears in the field at over 20 years in age. He's not just the inaugural winner of the competition but the a four-time champion that's looking to defend his crown from last year's competition.
• 747: A very large adult male with a blocky muzzle and a floppy right ear. First identified in 2004, "few brown bears ever grow as large" as 747, park rangers note. He also won the 2020 title.
• 854 Divot: A medium-large adult female with a short, straight muzzle and closely spaced eyes that was first identified in 2004. She's one of the more photographed bears in the park.
• 856: A very large and tall adult male that was first identified in 2006. He was considered "the river's most consistently dominant bear" over the past decade, according to park officials.
• 901: A medium-small yet quickly growing adult female first identified in 2018 as a 2 1/2-year-old.
• 909's Yearling: Another one of the young competitors, 909's Yearling is a nearly 2-year-old cub with a skinny neck, a large head, and medium-brown fur with grizzled tips.

All voting is conducted on a website set up by Katmai National Park.

However, there are also other ways to participate in Fat Bear Week. For instance, explore.org resident naturalist Mike Fitz and rangers from Katmai National Park will host an online chat about the importance of fat to the survival of this year's Fat Bear Week contestants at 5 p.m. mountain time on Wednesday.

Explore.org also has live cameras set up so people can watch the bears as they prepare for hibernation.

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