In a remarkable display of resilience, Chunk, a formidable brown bear with a broken jaw, triumphed in the annual Fat Bear Week competition. This year’s contest marked his first victory after consistently placing second in previous years. The event, a popular online tournament, allows fans to follow the lives of bears in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve via live webcams. Participants cast ballots in a bracket-style competition, culminating in a final showdown. Chunk, officially known as Bear 32, faced off against Bear 856 in the final round, ultimately securing the win.
Organizers estimated Chunk’s weight to be around 1,200 pounds, though actual weighing isn’t done for safety reasons. Instead, techniques such as LIDAR are employed to estimate the bears’ sizes. Despite his injury, likely sustained in a fight, Chunk remains a dominant figure at Brooks River, according to a naturalist from explore.org. The contest’s popularity is undeniable, drawing over 1.5 million votes this year. Fans watched the bears feast on a record number of fall salmon as they prepared for hibernation.
This year’s abundance of salmon led to decreased conflict among the bears, as the fish were readily available. Around 200,000 salmon made their way up Brooks River, according to park rangers. In leaner seasons, the bears compete fiercely for prime fishing spots at Brooks Falls, where the salmon concentrate. However, this year, the falls were often unoccupied as bears fished throughout the river. Remarkably, even humans were able to fish peacefully alongside the bears, as seen on the explore.org live cameras.
The online contest features before-and-after photos, highlighting the bears’ transformation from lean summer figures to their plump, winter-ready state. While the bears are not weighed, fans often base their votes on appearance or the bears’ backstories. A notable moment from 2024, captured by live cameras, involved a conflict between Chunk and a cub, resulting in the cub’s death. In that instance, fans voted for the cub’s mother, Grazer, over Chunk. The competition, launched in 2014, serves as an interactive educational tool, informing the public about brown bears, the coastal relatives of grizzlies, and their vital need to consume large quantities of salmon to survive the harsh Alaskan winters. The bears’ ability to thrive during this time is a testament to their resilience.