It's Fat Bear Week and Alaska’s New Bear Body Pawsitivity King Will Be Crowned by This Time Next Week

Author image for Etai Eshet
Etai Eshet • Editor
Sep 25, 2026 6:45 AM EDT

It's that most wonderful time of year again: the brief, sacred stretch when the internet puts aside its usual arguments to ask a question of actual importance: who is the fattest bear in Alaska, and why does that bear deserve a crown?

Fat Bear Week is back at Katmai National Park, where the brown bears of Brooks River have spent the summer doing what every wellness influencer claims to be doing: listening to their bodies, eating seasonally, and refusing to apologize for having seconds.

Except the bears aren't "treating themselves." They're preparing to sleep through winter without eating, drinking, checking comment sections, or pretending they aren't getting paid for sponsoring something. This is survival. It just happens to look like a before-and-after contest run by nature's most terrifying bulking gym bros.

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  • 01

    The Reigning Heavyweight Chunkion of the World

    June 28, 2026 Courtesy of explore.org September 14, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg 32 32 Chunk Chunk
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

  • From September 22 through 29, the public gets to vote in a bracket-style tournament for the bear that has done the best job packing on pounds. No voting happens after business hours, because even bears need to log off, touch grass, and possibly eat a salmon directly out of the water.

  • 02
    July 11, 2026 Courtesy of T. Hunt September 9, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg 131 131
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park
  • 03
    June 30, 2026 Courtesy of explore.org September 9, 2025 Courtesy of C. Loberg 132 & Spring Cubs 132 & SpringCubs
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

  • The competition is wholesome, but the weight is serious business. Katmai’s bears spend summer feasting on salmon to build the fat reserves that will carry them through hibernation. A fat bear isn’t lazy or “letting itself go.” A fat bear has secured a fishing spot, endured rival bears, and turned an alarming number of fish into winter insulation.

    Basically, a fat bear is someone who started meal-prepping in July for an event in January, and the event is being unconsciousness

  • 04
    June 27, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg September 8, 2026 Courtesy of explore.org 89 Backpack 89 Backpack
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park
  • 05
    July 5, 2026 Courtesy of T. Hunt September 12, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg 151 Walker 151 Walker
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

  • The bears at Brooks River are some of the largest brown bears on Earth, and this year there are reportedly more cubs around Brooks Camp than there have been in a long time. That means a new generation is learning the essential bear skills: where to fish, how to compete, and how not to look deeply embarrassing next to an adult bear built like a sectional sofa with claws.

    Last year’s winner was Bear 32, also known as Chunk, which is perhaps the most accurate nickname ever given to a living thing. More than 1.7 million votes came in from over 100 countries before Chunk was crowned champion. That is a lot of people passionately choosing between bears based on their relative rotundity, which may be the internet’s best use of democracy.

  • 06
    June 27, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg September 9, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg 164 Bucky 164 Bucky
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park
  • 07
    July 5, 2026 Courtesy of T. Hunt September 3, 2026 Courtesy of T. Carmack 428 Studious 428 Studious
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park
  • 08
    July 8, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg September 3, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg 284 & Spring Cubs 284 & Spring Cubs
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

  • And people do get passionate. They study photos, build brackets, and develop strong opinions about a bear they met on a livestream and luckily not a love stream six hours ago. 

  • 09
    July 8, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg September 5, 2026 Courtesy of T. Carmack 610 & Spring Cubs 610 & „Spring Cubs
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park
  • 10
    July 18, 2026 Courtesy of T. Carmack September 12, 2026 Courtesy of T. Carmack 620 620
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park
  • 11
    July 18, 2026 Courtesy of T. Carmack September 12, 2026 Courtesy of T. Carmack 694 694
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park
  • 12
    July 13, 2026 Courtesy of explore.org September 10, 2026 Courtesy of T. Carmack 806 & Mixed Age Cubs 806 & Mixed Age Cubs
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

  • But (my) jokes aside, this is something genuinely unique and lovely. These bears are enormous because they live in an ecosystem rich enough to support them. Fat Bear Week is a celebration of wildlife doing exactly what wildlife is supposed to do: eat, survive, grow, and make humans briefly forget every other problem in the world.

  • 13
    July 5, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg September 2, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg 901 & Spring Cub 901 & Spring Cub
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park
  • 14
    July 5, 2026 Courtesy of T. Hunt September 13, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg 903 Gully 903 Gully
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park
  • 15
    June 26, 2026 Courtesy of T. Hunt September 8, 2026 Courtesy of T. Carmack 909 909
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park
  • 16
    July 2, 026 Courtesy of T. Hunt September 9, 2026 Courtesy of C. Loberg 910 910
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

  • So pick your favorite. Vote with your heart. Respect the bulk.

  • 17
    Cheezburger Image 10666211584
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    302

  • 18
    Cheezburger Image 10666210560
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    302

  • 19
    Cheezburger Image 10666212864
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    89

  • 20
    Cheezburger Image 10666211840
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    89

  • 21
    Cheezburger Image 10666211328
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    131

  • 22
    Cheezburger Image 10666213120
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    132

  • 23
    Cheezburger Image 10666212352
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    132

  • 24
    Cheezburger Image 10666214656
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    164 Bucky

  • 25
    Cheezburger Image 10666213376
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    164 Bucky

  • 26
    Cheezburger Image 10666214400
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    284

  • 27
    Cheezburger Image 10666215424
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    428

  • 28
    Cheezburger Image 10666215680
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    610

  • 29
    Cheezburger Image 10666216448
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    620

  • 30
    Cheezburger Image 10666215936
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    620

  • 31
    Cheezburger Image 10666217472
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    694

  • 32
    Cheezburger Image 10666217216
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    694

  • 33
    Cheezburger Image 10666217984
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    806s

  • 34
    Cheezburger Image 10666217728
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    901

  • 35
    Cheezburger Image 10666218240
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    903

  • 36
    Cheezburger Image 10666219520
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    903

  • 37
    Cheezburger Image 10666220544
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    909

  • 38
    Cheezburger Image 10666220800
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    909

  • 39
    Cheezburger Image 10666219776
    via explore.org/Katmai National Park

    910

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competition wholesome alaska adorable animal photos brown bear wild animals heartwarming bears cute animals salmon cute bear wildlife animals
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