It’s Almost Fat Bear Week 2025—Meet Some of the Contenders

Are you one of the gobs of folks looking forward to Fat Bear Week 2025? Fat Bear Week is a week-long celebration of the grizzly bears that live in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve—particularly those that congregate at the Brooks River to gorge themselves on fatty salmon as they start to prepare their bodies for winter hibernation.

This year’s competition will be the 11th annual Fat Bear Week. Explore.org, which operates live-stream trail cameras along the Brooks River in Katmai National Park and Preserve, runs the event. The public can cast votes for their favorite fat bear starting September 23 through September 30.

[RELATED: Seattle Ice-Hockey Mascot Nearly Attacked by Grizzly Bear]

Although the contestants and official bracket haven’t been announced yet (expect that to come on September 22 at 7 p.m. Eastern on Explore’s YouTube page), you can peruse some of the fat bears of Katmai on Explore.org’s web page. Contenders this year will likely include heavy-weight bears like Chunk, Grazer, and Bucky. (Grazer was the 2024 champ.)

See more bears and their bios here.

Check out some posters fans made for several of the fat bears in contention for 2025 Fat Bear Week here:

Are you one of the gobs of folks looking forward to Fat Bear Week 2025? Fat Bear Week is a week-long celebration of the grizzly bears that live in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve—particularly those that congregate at the Brooks River to gorge themselves on fatty salmon as they start to prepare their bodies for winter hibernation.

This year’s competition will be the 11th annual Fat Bear Week. Explore.org, which operates live-stream trail cameras along the Brooks River in Katmai National Park and Preserve, runs the event. The public can cast votes for their favorite fat bear starting September 23 through September 30.

[RELATED: Seattle Ice-Hockey Mascot Nearly Attacked by Grizzly Bear]

Although the contestants and official bracket haven’t been announced yet (expect that to come on September 22 at 7 p.m. Eastern on Explore’s YouTube page), you can peruse some of the fat bears of Katmai on Explore.org’s web page. Contenders this year will likely include heavy-weight bears like Chunk, Grazer, and Bucky. (Grazer was the 2024 champ.)

See more bears and their bios here.

Check out some posters fans made for several of the fat bears in contention for 2025 Fat Bear Week here: