At any gift clip , 100 of people are tune into the brown bear livefeeds stream fromExplore.org , which show the most famous occupier of Alaska ’s Katmai National Park and Reserve in their natural home ground . Viewers may see bears playing with each other or eating salmon atBrooks Falls , but many come to the web site to break one affair in special : How fat the bears have gotten since their last viewing session .
The fixation over the brownish bears ’ bulk is the base ofFat Bear Week , an annual on-line consequence organise by Katmai National Park . “ Working on the webcam — and even prior to that , just being a fire warden at Katmai and talking to mass when they were watching the bear — I knew that bears were very magnetic puppet , ” Mike Fitz , resident naturalist for Explore.org and the founder of Fat Bear Week , tell Mental Floss . “ I knew that multitude are very odd about [ the bear ’ ] lives and how they make a living , and the point in time of Fat Bear Week is to make some of those stories more approachable to masses and do it in a fun way . ”
What originally began in 2014 as a one - day event ( Fat Bear Tuesday ) has since grown into a much - expect international consequence . About 55,000 voters participated in Fat Bear Week 2018 . In 2019 , that number maturate to 250,000 , and in 2020 , it balloon to 650,000.In 2022 and 2023,more than a million voterstook part in the competition . This year ’s upshot is have a bun in the oven to kick off in October and promises to be just as playfulness and lovely as previous years .
A Substantial Idea
For masses who would rather watch wildlife webcams than sports , Fat Bear Weekis fundamentally March Madness . For one week in either former September and former October , Katmai posts brackets of the parkland ’s big bear on the cyberspace . Members of the public selection which bear they think is fat ( whether they judge that by literal size , the amount of exercising weight gain since spring , or how well the bear flash its flab is up to them ) , and the corpulent dissident with the most votes move ahead in the competition . At the terminal of the week , the bear that wins the final catch - up is named that year ’s fattest .
“ It ’s celebrating something we normally do n’t get to lionize , which is fatness , and fat as something good and overconfident , because the bear live on their fat , ” Katmai National Park ’s medium ranger Naomi Boak tells Mental Floss .
He shared the comment with his colleagues , and together they brainstorm ways to twist the fun notice into an chance for public engagement . They came up with a smaller , one - day version of the fat bear competition , and when they post their first - ever bracket on theKatmai Facebook page , the reception was encouraging . Though the park did n’t have the largest social media presence at the time , their exist follower were enthusiastic about the cause .
“ Otis , he ’s enormous ! I ’m a petty afraid that he might explode , ” onecommentersaid of that year’swinnerleading up to the event .
“ What a difference a little ( a lot ) of salmon can make ! ” anotherfollower wrotewhen the bracket went live .
Fat Bear Tuesday was a success .
“ It was a great way to communicate the different way that bear get fat and why they get productive and what that means for their survival , so we decided to expand it into a whole week to give more people an chance to participate , ” Fitz suppose . Katmai kicked off its first prescribed Fat Bear Week the next year , and its scope has grown exponentially in the years since .
“ I kind of had an idea based on my fundamental interaction with the populace in the past that people would love it , but I had no idea that it would turn as big as it is today , ” Fitz enunciate . “ It really has exceed expectations . ”
Behind the Brackets
Though Fat Bear Week is a digital campaign , much of the work required to put it together takes place in the field . To get her pictures , Boak spends weeks skulk around areas where the bear are have a go at it to frequent , such as Brooks Falls . A good pic can boost a contestant ’s chances of come through , and snap the thoroughgoing shot is often easier say than done . The skilful clock time to take a bear ’s “ after ” picture is in September , when they ’re nigh to achieving their hibernation bod , but this is also when they drop most of their time in the water gorging on Salmon River . This crap it hard to capture their full silhouette in all its aura on camera — though it ’s not unacceptable .
“ We essentially stalk bears for a couple of weeks , ” Boak says . “ With 747 , our winner last year , I literally haunt him for two weeks to get just enough light that was n’t in the fog and to see him out of the urine . I had to go to the descent at different hours , I had to look around the parkland . ” In the meantime , visitor are taking their own amateur bear picture . To widen the pool of pictures they have to choose from , the park wrench to its invitee , and many are willing to deal their jibe for Fat Bear Week .
Learning to recognize the bears is a skill in itself . After observe them for months — or yr , in many case — Boak and her fellow worker start to recognize the strong-arm and behavioural characteristics that make them unique . ( Behavior becomes especially important as the bear begin their pre - hibernation transformations . ) Katmai also hasbear monitorswhose job it is to watch individual specimens for hour at a time and note their identifiable traits , including energy levels , sleep habit , and kinship to other bear .
All that difficult study pays off come up fall . Fat Bear Week is one of Katmai National Park ’s most - anticipated annual events , and it ’s one of the best examples of how national parks can use technology to elevate cognizance of what goes on within their borders . Katmai is one of the few places on Earth where the ecosystem is functioning at its full potential difference . The Mungo Park saw a record - reveal Salmon River run last year , and the life - give fat the brown bears clear as a result is a marvel of nature . By foreground such a pristine surround , the people postulate with Fat Bear Week hope to remind the public what ’s at stake as environmental threats worsen .
“ The phenomenon we delight at Brooks Falls of bear fish there is completely dependent on a sizeable Salmon River running , and with mood change and other threat to salmon , like large - scale developing and mining , I think the more people that are aware of this healthy , fat ecosystem , the better , ” Fitz says .
The preservation message underlie the campaign , but above all , Fat Bear Week is a prospect for the masses putting it together and the fans voting from home to have playfulness . “ I imagine it ’s a great rest , a happy time , and a happy , fun outcome to stop think about fire , hurricanes , and pandemics , ” Boak says .
Stiff Competition
For the last couple of yr , the contest has been held onExplore.orgto open it up to participants without a Facebook account . And in recent year , elector have been capable to choose their favorite chubby bear sonny boy in addition to the mature juicy bears .
Fat Bear Jr. takes plaza in late September , and the winning lad of that competition will get to go head - to - foreland with the handsome guys and lady when the prescribed Fat Bear Week give up off .
Katmai ’s bears are still in the process of bulking up for winter , but fans who have been watching the bear all year already bang which contenders to keep an eye on . “ I ’m looking forrad to seeing whether or not 747 can defend his title , ” Fitz says . “ He ’s a giant bear , he ’s the largest bear I ’ve ever see . Last year he was about 1400 pound , so I ’d be surprised if he ’s any smaller this yr . ”
Boak agreesthat 747is the bear to beat : “ I cerebrate the current champ is extremely militant . His belly is already touching the ground . ” But part of the playfulness of Fat Bear Week is its capriciousness . Until the final vote are cast in October , no one — not even the experts who follow the bears in the park — knows who will lay claim the title .
“ Sometimes there are really tense moments for us , where we ’re thinking this bear is give out to win , then all of a sudden a dark horse — or a dark bear — appear as the rooter favorite , ” Boak says . “ It ’s going to be very competitive , so who knows — because the public decide , not us . ”
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A version of this story was originally published in 2022 and has been updated for 2024 .
