Fat Bear Week in Alaska
Texas has cowboys, Hawaii has beaches, and Alaska has fat-shaming bears. Just last month, it was Fat Bear Week in Alaska, an annual tradition in Katmai National Park and Preserve [https://katmaiconservancy.org/fatbearweek] where viewers and fans vote for the chunkiest bear in the park.
In a news release, Park Superintendent Mark Strum said, “The astonishing salmon runs in Katmai are essential to the survival of the park’s ecosystem and brown bears.”
This year, a brown bear named 32 Chunk, or just Chunk to fans, was the winner of Fat Bear Week, weighing over 1,200 pounds [https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/30/style/fat-bear-week-winner-alaska-chunk.html].
Chunk was actually quite at a disadvantage at the start of the competition, nursing a broken jaw. Not only did this make him somewhat of an underdog, it also endangered his life, as he was forced to learn how to eat enough salmon without a fully healed jaw, or suffer hibernating through winter without enough fat.
However, to preserve the natural spirit of the park, the bears couldn’t receive medical attention. This meant that Chunk had to be smart enough to survive the summer. This meant he had to learn how to assert dominance and avoid confronting other male bears, which showcased his resilience and adaptability. In the semifinals, Chunk managed to gain enough fans to boost into the finals, earning 82,913 votes against the 76,665 votes of another contestant known as 856.
In the finals, Chunk earned 96,350 votes, significantly more than the 63,725 votes of 856, and was crowned the final winner of the 2025 Fat Bear Week.
However, the adult bears aren’t the only ones that get to have fun. Before the main Fat Bear Week starts, there is a chubby appetizer called Fat Bear Junior, which is basically the same thing, but with bear cubs.
Given the cubs’ small size, they face numerous challenges when it comes to feeding, and their vulnerability often causes them to rely heavily on their mothers’ protection.
This year, the contestants [https://explore.org/meet-the-bears-fat-bear-junior] included 94, who were triplet cubs born last winter; born just this spring. Fat Bear Junior. [https://www.nationalparkstraveler.org/2025/09/updated-and-fat-bear-junior-2025-winner].
