Fat Bear Week 2024: Meet the heavy weights in this years competition

(WTAJ) — Some very chunky brown bears are taking center stage at Brooks Falls in Alaska for the annual Fat Bear Week!

Fat Bear Week is a single-elimination tournament that focuses on educating the public about the bears while celebrating the weight they’ve put on for winter. Starting in early October the public will cast votes each day for the bear of their choice. The bear with the most amount of votes moves on! In the end, one bear is crowned the Fat Bear Week champion.

This week’s event will take place from October 2-8. Every day starting at 12 p.m. Eastern Time you can vote for your favorite bear. The Fat Bear Junior event, the same concept with cubs, occurred from September 26-27. On top of the younger chart was 909 Jr. He beat out 128’s spring cub with over 13,000 votes to win the coveted small, but still chunky, crown!

The pushback of the announcement

The bears were set to be announced on Monday, Sept. 30, but do a bear fight they chose to postpone to Tuesday, Oct. 1. The park confirmed that on Monday a fight resulted in the death of one of the bears and it was witnessed on the live cameras. On their YouTube page “Explore Bears & Bison , “This is a difficult situation to witness. We love to celebrate the success of bears with full stomachs and ample body fat, but the ferocity of bears is real. The risks they face are real. Their lives can be hard and their deaths can be painful.”

Bear 402, a large female, who is known in the Fat Bear community, participated in previous competitions and was a mother to eight litters was killed after engaging in a fight with a large male bear known as 469. Bear 469 was first identified in 2001 and remains a common face for viewers as he makes his way to Brooks Falls each year. Park officials instead of hosting the announcement of the 2024 bracket held a stream to speak on the situation and answer questions. You can find that full conversation here .

Meet some of this years heavy weights

Will a winner return to claim their crown? Meet Grazer

Grazer was the 2023 Fat Bear Champion and she’s returned to the falls with not only some winter weight but also two baby cubs. Although one of her cubs did not survive the summer, following an attack, Grazer and her remaining cub have certainly packed on the pounds. Will this previous winner reclaim her crown?

Bear Force One lands at Brooks Fall! Meet 747

Bear 747 is a large adult male with a blocky muzzle and floppy ears. In early summer, his reddish-brown fur sheds in a patchy manner. Like many adult males, he often has scars and wounds on his face and neck. In late summer and fall, he is typically very fat with a low-hanging belly and uniformly dark brown fur. He’s also a two-time champion of the competition and word has it he’s hungry for the 2024 crown.

A previous competitor arrives and tips the scales! Meet 32 aka chunk

He’s spent all summer snacking on salmon and he’s got quite the lightbulb shape to prove it. He’s well known in the fat bear community and he’s competed in many battles. However, he’s never quite won the competition. Last year he was runner-up to Grazer, but will this be the year that the scale tips in his favor?

You can find a full list of the bears for this year’s competition here .

Why does fat matter?

Bears need the fat to survive. Each winter bears will hibernate and won’t eat or drink anything until spring. Once in hibernation their bodies drop in temperature, pulse rate and respiration , but they still need to have enough fat to get through the winter. According to the Katmai National Park and Reserve, bears may lose up to one-third of their weight during winter. That’s why they rely so heavily on their fat reserves. The bigger is truly better when it comes to bears!

Alaskan brown bears are the largest brown bears and can eat 80 to 90 pounds of food per day . That’s a lot of salmon! However, they are omnivores so they pack on the pounds using everything from fish to berries to roots.

The Fat Bear Week Hall of Champions

2014: Otis (480)

2015: Beadnose (409)

2016: Otis (480)

2017: Otis (480)

2018: Beadnose (409)

2019: Holly (435)

2020: 747

2021: Otis (480)

2022: 747

2023: Grazer

2024: Who do you think will come out on top?

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Check out the Brooks Falls brown bear cams here ! Also, check out the Otis Fund , the fundraiser that helps Katmai National Park and Preserve educate the public. Last year they raised $712,000 during Fat Bear Week.

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