A brown bear named 901 is in the finals against another bear, called 747, in Katmai National Park’s annual Fat Bear Week bracket that simply ask voters to choose “the fattest bear of the year.”
As of this writing, 901 trailed 747 by 8,134 votes. 747 had 43,223 and 901 weighed in with 35,089. Let’s help push 901 over the edge with a click here (and you’ll have to submit your email address to vote). Voting ends at 8 p.m. CST.
“Some of the largest brown bears on Earth make their home at Brooks River in Katmai National Park, Alaska,” reads the bracket’s website. “Brown bears get fat to survive and Fat Bear Week is an annual tournament celebrating their success in preparation for winter hibernation.”
“Brown bears get fat to survive and Fat Bear Week is an annual tournament celebrating their success in preparation for winter hibernation.”
Katmai National Park
It’s unclear how the bears get their names, which are mostly three-digit numbers. But it seems to be more random or scientific than the park agents picking them based on Memphis twice (at least) earning the title as fattest city in America or the 747 being a really big airplane.
Fat Bear Week is a single-elimination tournament based on web votes that decides “who is the fattest of the fat.” For each match-up, voters pick “the bear you believe best exemplifies fatness.” The bear with the most votes moves on to the next round and “only one will be crowned champion of Fat Bear Week.”
For each match-up, voters pick “the bear you believe best exemplifies fatness.”
Katmai National Park
901 is described as a “medium-small, yet quickly growing adult female.” She was first identified as a two-and-a-half year old in 2018.
“She fishes throughout Brooks River and sometimes is keen to defend her fishing spots from other bears,” reads the biography site. “As a young adult in 2022, she continued to refine her fishing and social skills. This is a lifelong process for brown bears, but it is particularly important for young adult females. Bear 901 may soon experience a new challenge: raising cubs.”