Fat Bear Week is my Super Bowl. It is my Burning Man. It is the thing that I talk too much about, and wait for way too eagerly, each year. But that’s because it is the most wholesome and joyous event. It was started by the naturalists at Katmai National Park in Alaska ten years ago to celebrate the grizzly bears of the park getting fat in time for winter. (In bear terms, fatness equals health, since it helps them survive hibernation.) It has evolved from Fat Bear Tuesday to a week long tournament with a printable bracket and everything. You vote for the bear that you think has achieved the most impressive weight gain.
This year’s competition was full of twists and turns. Many prior heavyweight champions (pardon the pun) did not make it that far, including five-time winner 480 Otis, grizzled veteran 32 Chunk, and the illustrious 747, also known as Colbert. 747 is named after the airplane because of his size, and he was last year’s champion. This year, single mom 128 Grazer won the competition. Her win is definitely an upset, because bear moms have significant energy expenditures from feeding and caring for their young, so they don’t usually gain as much weight as the male bears. Needless to say, I am bursting with pride on Grazer’s behalf. It’s not easy for single moms, and bears are no exception.
The wait is over. After a highly anticipated week of competition, voters have crowned a new winner of Fat Bear Week.
They chose 128 Grazer, a defensive mother bear and first-time winner of the sought-after title.
She beat second placed 32 Chunk, a larger bear, by more than 85,000 votes.
“The gutsy girl grounded the guy with a gut,” the Alaska Katmai National Park & Preserve, which hosts the event, said in a tweet.
“32 Chunk, proved his prominent posterior was worthy of a whopping win. But in the end, Chunk got Grazered,” the park service added.
Fat Bear week, an online event founded in 2014 by former park ranger Mike Fitz, has become an internet sensation, attracting millions of viewers each year.
Each year, fans pick their favourite of 12 plump brown bears from Alaska’s Katmai National Park that have gathered along the Brooks River to chomp on salmon and pack on as many pounds before winter.
This year, Grazer received a whopping total of 108,321 votes, according to Explore.org, which tracks the contest for the park service.
A large mother to two litters of cubs with a long muzzle and “conspicuously blonde ears”, Grazer is one of the fattest bears to hunt for salmon in the Brooks River, the National Park Service said.
She was introduced to the area as a young cub in 2005, and has since become one of the most successful fishers on the waters.
“She can chase down fleeing salmon in many parts of the river or patiently scavenge dead and dying salmon after they spawn,” the National Park Service said.
She has guts, too. The National Park Service said Grazer often preemptively confronts and attacks much larger and more dominant male bears to ensure her cubs’ safety.
I was rooting for another single mom bear, 435 Holly, who also has cute blonde ears. But really, I just love the whole competition. Grazer takes no prisoners and she will stand up to any male bear who messes with her, and some of them have started giving her the best fishing spots out of fear. I aspire to be like her one day. A lot of the bears looked thinner than normal to me this year and I think climate change contributed. My friends who live in Alaska described it as a warmer than average summer (though it rained kind of a lot). So I think the warmer weather may have affected the salmon spawning. I also feel compelled to point out that Alaska’s Department of Fish and Game killed nearly a hundred brown bears this past spring, including twenty cubs, because of a decline in the caribou population. Apex predators like bears and wolves are easy scapegoats for cattle ranchers, hunters, and other special interest groups. Living alongside bears comes with challenges and risks–if you have a jacuzzi, they will probably find it! But they are vital to their ecosystems, and on balance, humans are far more disruptive to their way of life, than they are to our way of life. Hopefully the growing popularity of Fat Bear Week can show the powers that be, that people love bears and want them to be able to thrive. And Long Live Grazer, my Queen. May she continue to terrify the man bears for many years to come.
Hahaha, I had no idea this was a thing. So cute
I’d been voting for Grazer since the competition opened this year and YOU GO GIRL! Enjoy your much deserved nap.
(I hope she shows up with a cub or two next year. )
I would love to see her at Brooks Falls with cubs again! She is one badass mother, the biggest fights I’ve caught on the cams were when anyone was remotely looking at her cubs.
Otis is always my personal favorite, but I had to vote for Grazer, because I am apparently all about bear female empowerment.
I love watching the bears at Brooks Falls. I get mesmerized by the sounds of the water, watching the bears watching the salmon. And Grazer is one beautiful bear!
I adore Fat Bear Week. I was rooting for Otis but they all got Grazered! I hope my name will someday be used as a verb! Lol
Long live Fat Bears!!!
Otis is my sentimental favorite! He’s the only one I can recognize when they all emerge from hibernation, all skinny.
He took so long to return, I almost cried when he showed up at the end of the July. I really was worried that we had seen the last of him. He was so skinny it was heartbreaking. You could see vertebrae, ribs, pelvis sticking out everywhere. I was so happy when he started catching fish in his “office” on the far side by the overhang.
The bears aren’t as big this year as they were last year because the salmon run was much smaller. I think climate change certainly is affecting these bears (and the salmon) but fluctuations in the number of salmon returning is normal. They often follow a 4-6 year cycle.
I thought it was going to be Chunk’s year but I was so pleased to see Grazer win. It was very different this year with three out of four in the semi-finals being sows. Usually the boars dominate. I could literally talk about the Brooks Falls fat bears all day so I’ll stop myself here!
I worry about him every year, which people who are just finding out about Katmai and explore.org should be warned about. I seriously fret over a bear, every single year, consider yourselves warned. It is addictive.
I love Fat Bear Week! I was so excited for Grazer. She got super chunky, LOL.
i love to watch nature documentaries to unwind, and one of my favorite series from Attenborough is “Nature’s Great Events” – the Great Migration, the Great Melt, etc – and one of them is the Great Salmon Run. It is so fascinating to watch, and very soothing in its way. I think its on Discovery Plus now (which is now part of Max? I dont even know anymore.) But its so interesting to follow the bears and the salmon etc.
I can’t always handle nature documentaries, but I did enjoy Ireland’s Wild Coast and The Burren: Heart of Stone.
Finally, the news story I’ve been waiting for.
I had no idea about the voting and it being a whole thing, that’s going in the diary for next year and I intend to get fully invested. The more we can do to bring attention to our wildlife and their increasingly precarious existence the better.
Also, thank you Carina for the other background information you shared. We humans do love to mess with an ecosystem.
Unfortunately, there’s no going back. Wildlife is now ‘managed’ by federal & state agencies. I’m not 100% certain that even Wilderness Areas are truly wild.
Woke up in a bear of a mood this morning, but Grazer put a smile in my face. Thank you Carina!
I had no idea I was missing something so awesome. Love this. Congrats to Mama Grazer and I can’t wait for next year’s Fat Bear Week. I also love that park services have such good twitter content.
We love Fat Bear Week! We were glad to see Otis still in the running this year. Love that Grazer won, though. I aspire to have her attitude, as well.
Haha! I am clearly not the only CBer who has heart eyes for Otis!
Grazer definitely deserves the win as she is fierce! Not being as big as most of the males does not stop her protecting her cubs at all. Plus I love her blond poms, so cute!
How am I today years old learning about Fat Bear Week? This is life-changing, squeeeee!
LOL. I texted my sibling who is very much involved in National Parks Services things, WTF how come you didn’t share this. She’s like, I’m trying to protect their privacy. P.S. She and her husband have amazing videos of bears and salmon fishing. I’m like, you know this is right up my alley. She’s like, ‘Fine’. My job is to respect wildlife not publicize it.”. My sister is very cool.
Love, love, love this post about Grazer. She’s a hard worker to survive the upcoming winter.
I see they have live cams of them catching salmon. Apologies to your Sister but I am going to start stalking them virtually. I would love to go to Alaska one day. And see one from a far, far respectable distance.
Oh, this is really fun! Very cute, thank you for reporting on this!
So chuffed! I voted for her from the beginning AND SHE WON! It’s an amazing feat of nature the way their metabolism works. Otis looked worse for wear after hibernation.
Just came into the comments to say how much I loved this story!
I just noticed that explore.org is matching all of the donations to the Otis Fund, which raises money for Katmai Conservancy! The link is at the top of the bear cam page.
https://explore.org/livecams
https://katmaiconservancy.org/
Another thing to remember is Fat Bear Wear almost didn’t happen due to the impending government shutdown. The National Park Service are all government employees so with the shutdown postponed to November, we were able to get a winner. Just another thing to keep in mind! I’m glad a Queen was crowned.