Overview
- The online Fat Bear Week tournament opened Sept. 22 and runs through Sept. 29 with public voting at fatbearweek.org and live streams on Explore.org.
- Defending champion Chunk (Bear 32) is competing again despite documented severe jaw damage and a roughly 1,200-pound estimated weight.
- For the first time the 16-entry bracket includes five mother bears with their cubs, a change organizers say reflects unusually strong cub returns at Brooks River.
- Organizers use the week to teach how hyperphagia — intense late-summer feeding on sockeye salmon — lets bears build fat needed for winter survival and successful reproduction.
- The event has grown from a 2014 ranger photo poll into a global public-engagement phenomenon that drew more than 1.7 million votes last year while raising attention to threats such as climate change and nearby development that could harm salmon and bears.