\u201cThe merely chubby have been winnowed away,\u201d a naturalist intoned. \u201cWe are left with a clash of titans.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a record-breaking week of public voting, Katmai national park and preserve in Alaska<\/a> has announced the winner of its \u201cbiggest Fat Bear Week yet\u201d.<\/p>\n 32 Chunk, frequently described as \u201cthe most dominant brown bear on the river\u201d, won the fatness competition despite suffering for most of the season from a broken jaw, which locals suspected came from battling with another male over a female.<\/p>\n Bear 856<\/a>Bear 856<\/p>\n The annual bracket-style competition pits different wild bears against each other, based on before-and-after photos of the bears\u2019 weight gain as they prepare for winter, as well as the bears\u2019 personalities and ursine accomplishments.<\/p>\n 32 Chunk\u2019s ability to eat huge quantities of salmon and grow fat despite his debilitating injury led him to victory in the public competition<\/a>, with 96,350 votes compared to Bear 856 \u2013 the runner up \u2013 who garnered 63,725 votes.<\/p>\n \u201cA fat bear means a successful bear,\u201d Katmai park ranger Ashleigh Monaco said during a Tuesday livestream event. \u201cA fat bear means that bear is more likely to survive hibernation.\u201d<\/p>\n bear before and after <\/a>Bear 901 before and after<\/p>\n Chunk dethroned 128 Grazer<\/a>, the female bear who has held Katmai\u2019s fat bear title for the past two years, as the fattest bear on the Brooks River. This year\u2019s competition attracted more than 1.5m public votes \u2013 the most so far, naturalist Mike Fitz said during the livestream.<\/p>\n Katmai is known as the home and hunting ground of some of the largest brown bears in the world, where the largest male bears can weigh more than 1,200lbs (544 kg) by fall. The competition features an enviable live camera feed<\/a> of the bears fishing for salmon, navigating the river and occasionally fighting with each other.<\/p>\n While Fat Bear Week, which was started in 2014, was designed to support greater public awareness of the bears and their ecosystem, the contest has also included levels of on-camera drama that surpass even those of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City<\/a>.<\/p>\n Bear 128.<\/a>Bear 128<\/p>\n During the summer of 2024, 32 Chunk killed the young cub of reigning fat bear champion 128 Grazer \u2013 even though the mama bear fought Chunk in a desperate effort to save the cub. The death was captured on the the live cameras. 128 Grazer went on to beat Chunk in the fat bear competition by more than 40,000 votes<\/a>.<\/p>\n That same year, the fat bear competition was delayed after one of the contestants was killed by another, less-fat bear, which was also captured on livestream<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite his role as the villain of previous years, Chunk, who has \u201cnarrowly-set eyes, dark brown fur, and a prominent brow ridge\u201d and \u201ca distinctive scar across his muzzle\u201d, won over the public this year with his story of perseverance.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n He appeared in the park in June with a freshly-broken jaw. Wild bears in Katmai do not receive veterinary care, and Chunk\u2019s injury was expected to be permanent, according to his contest profile<\/a>, which noted that the injured alpha bear \u201cadjusted his behavior to avoid most direct confrontations with other large male bears\u201d.<\/p>\n Chunk\u2019s broken jaw had left viewers wondering: \u201cIs he even going to be able to fish? Will he even survive?\u201d Naomi Boak, a media and communications executive who has been voting in the Fat Bear Week bracket for the past 11 years, said on the livestream. What happened, instead, was Chunk \u201cgaining girth beyond what anybody could have possibly imagined with that injury\u201d.<\/p>\n Chunk ultimately triumphed over an older male bear, 856, despite the fact that \u201c856\u2019s skinny picture was incredibly skinny,\u201d Boak noted before the results were announced.<\/p>\n Chunk\u2019s weight was estimated at 1,200 pounds by contest organizers. While they do not weigh individual bears during the contest because of safety concerns, Chunk and others have had their density scanned to bolster weight estimates in the past using laser technology called Lidar.<\/p>\n