Get your popcorn (and maybe a plate of salmon sashimi) ready: Fat Bear Week, the annual competition to crown the rotundest brown bear at Alaska’s Katmai National Park, is back for its 2025 season.
Since 2014, Katmai National Park has hosted a March madness–style competition inviting the public to vote on their favorite bear from 12 of the park’s most robust residents. This year, the Fat Bear Week tournament and voting will take place September 23–30, and the champion will be crowned on September 30. The competition’s junior division just concluded, and its winner, 128 Jr, will join 11 other contenders in the main bracket.
Here’s what to know about the competition, how to watch the bears, and where to cast your ballot:
What the heck is Fat Bear Week, anyway?
If you’ve never participated in Fat Bear Week, you might be left wondering why a sizable chunk of the internet is getting amped up about livestreams of bears.
The answer is that, right now, Katmai National Park’s brown bears are in a state of “hyperphagia,” a period of time when their bodies’ satiation cues are dimmed in order to encourage them to bulk up as much as possible before winter. Ever since the park turned this biological process into a livestreamed competition more than a decade ago, it’s fostered a cult fanbase on Reddit, Twitter, and now TikTok. Last year, more than a million votes were cast in the bracket.
“This is my superbowl,” one commenter wrote on the park’s Tiktok announcement of this year’s season. “BEST WEEK OF THE YEAR,” another added.
In an interview with NPR, Matt Johnson, the preserve’s interpretation program manager, said there’s a lot for fans to look forward to this year.
“This year’s salmon run was extraordinary, with salmon numbers surpassing anything seen in recent memory,” Johnson said. “As a result, the brown bears of Katmai are well-nourished and looking for other things to do besides scrapping with each other for food.”
Where to watch
In order to get acquainted with this year’s contenders, it’s important to see them in their natural habitat. Katmai National Park’s website includes a page dedicated to various livestreams located across the park, including an underwater salmon cam, a mountain view, and a scenic waterfall perspective.
How (and when) to vote
During the days of the competition, voting is open from 12 to 9 p.m. ET on the park’s website.
You’ll be shown source images of two bears, demonstrating how each contender transformed from their trimmer summer physiques to their current fall figures. Then, simply select whichever bear you think came out on top.
The contenders
The full Fat Bear Week bracket will be revealed later today. Currently, it seems likely that past champions including 128 Grazer (mother to the junior champion 128 Jr) and last year’s victor 747 will make a reappearance. Fans are also holding out for the return of beloved superstar 480 Otis, who was missing from the competition last year and has yet to be spotted in 2025.
“here I am, just a girl, crying for Otis once again,” one commenter lamented on the park’s recent TikTok sharing that Otis’s whereabouts are still unknown. “i have rooted for Otis every year, and even if he doesn’t show up again I will still root for him. Wherever he is,” a fellow fan added.
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