Fat Bear Week 2026 Opens With Defending Champ Chunk Facing 16-Bear Field

Alaska's fattest bears are back on the ballot.

Online voting opened Tuesday, September 22, for Fat Bear Week, the annual bracket-style contest run out of Katmai National Park and Preserve. Voting runs through September 29, when a winner will be crowned, according to the Associated Press.

The format expanded this year. The field grew from 12 bears in 2025 to 16 for 2026, according to CBS News.

The Defending Champ

Bear 32, better known as Chunk, is back to defend his title. Chunk's weight was estimated at 1,200 pounds when he won in 2025, according to the Associated Press. CBS News reported Chunk has healed from a broken jaw he suffered last year and is ready to compete again.

His competition includes Gully, officially Bear 903, the offspring of two-time champion Grazer. Other contenders named by CBS News include Bucky, who found a fishing spot in the plunge pool at Brooks Falls that lets him grab salmon leaping through the air; 89 Backpack, identifiable by his blond ears; and 151 Walker, a growing adult male who has used his size to climb the bear hierarchy.

How It Works

Voters pick their favorite in head-to-head matchups at fatbearweek.org. CBS News says polls are open between 12 p.m. and 9 p.m. ET each day. EarthSky reported the same window in Central time, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. CDT, which lines up.

The bears are not actually weighed. Voters compare before-and-after photos, lean in early summer and fattened by fall, and some pick based on looks or backstory rather than pure bulk, according to the Associated Press.

The contest drew more than 1.7 million votes from over 100 countries in 2025, according to National Park Service figures cited by CBS News. The online contest is produced through a partnership between the National Park Service and Explore.org, a nonprofit multimedia outfit that hosts the cameras and the voting site.

Why the Bears Are Fat

Brown bears at Katmai gorge on sockeye salmon returning to the Brooks River starting in late June, some catching fish midair as they swim upstream to spawn, according to the Associated Press. Adult males typically weigh 600 to 900 pounds in midsummer and can top 1,000 pounds by fall. Females run about a third smaller.

Mike Fitz, resident naturalist at Explore.org, said the bears have reached what he called "peak fat" after gorging on salmon, berries and other foods all summer, according to CBS News. "Bears get fat to survive, and fat is the fuel that powers their ability to endure the monthslong famine that is winter hibernation," Fitz said.

During hibernation, the bears eat and drink nothing and lose roughly a third of their body weight, according to the National Park Service. Katmai park ranger Troy Hunt told CBS News the animals can go four to six months without eating.

Park Superintendent Mark Sturm said more cubs have shown up at Brooks Camp this year than in a long time, with more than 100 individual bears identified at the river so far, according to CBS News. "A new generation of fat bears is taking shape, and they're off to a strong start," Sturm said.

The 2,200-Bear Backdrop

The contest, now in its 12th year, celebrates the roughly 2,200 brown bears living in the preserve on the Alaska Peninsula, according to the Associated Press. It started in 2014 as a low-key way to teach the public about the animals.

In 2024, mother bear Grazer's cub slipped over Brooks Falls and landed in Chunk's fishing spot. Chunk attacked the cub, which later died despite Grazer fighting him off. Voters responded by handing Grazer the 2024 title over Chunk. Chunk came back to win in 2025.

Whether Chunk can repeat in 2026, or whether Gully carries on his mother Grazer's legacy, comes down to whoever racks up the most clicks by September 29. The National Park Service has not said how many total bears were considered before the field was narrowed to 16, or what specific criteria pushed the bracket from 12 competitors last year to 16 this year.