This Fat Bear Week, bear enthusiasts from around the world can not only vote for their favorite chunky brown bears (Ursus arctos). They can actually help protect the bears’ home. Every donation made ...

Bear #89 got his very appropriate nickname from his habit of riding his mother’s back through the Brooks River as a cub. That mama bear is Katmai legend and former Fat Bear Week ...

Bear 89 Backpack defeated Bear 910 by just over 5,000 votes in the Fat Bear Week 2026 final at Alaska's Katmai National Park ...

Katmai National Park’s brown bears are doing a lot of eating right now, so much so that the park has dubbed it “Fat Bear Week ...

Fat Bear Week is scheduled for Sept. 22-29, with the champion expected to be crowned Sept. 29 after a week of fan voting.

The stars are bigger than ever, but the annual contest is about more than which bear packed on the most pounds before hibernation.

After a summer spent packing away sockeye salmon, Alaska’s heftiest brown bears are ready to throw their weight around.

A brown bear stands in the Brooks River at Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska. Each summer, bears feast on salmon to build the fat reserves they'll need for winter. (NPS Photo/F. Jimenez) At ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Bailey Berg is a writer and editor who covers travel and the outdoors. This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more. This ...

After a week of fierce competition, Backpack emerged victorious as Fat Bear Week champion, the heftiest bear of Alaska's ...

It was the survival of the thickest during Fat Bear Week, but only one bear could be the winner of the National Park Service's annual competition.

"A fat bear is a successful bear, and Fat Bear Week celebrates the success of these wild, brown bears," Katmai National Park & Preserve said in a social media post over the weekend. According to the ...