Chunk, a massive brown bear with a fractured jaw, emerged victorious in the highly anticipated Fat Bear Week competition on Tuesday, securing his first win after narrowly missing the top spot in previous years. The annual event, which features 12 bears from Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, allows online viewers to follow the bears on live webcams and vote in a bracket-style tournament that spans a week. Chunk, also known as Bear 32, triumphed over Bear 856 in the final round, as per the official tallies on the contest’s website.
Although individual bear weights are not measured during the competition due to safety reasons, organizers estimated Chunk’s weight at 1,200 pounds. LIDAR technology has been used in the past to scan the bears’ density and enhance weight estimations. Despite his jaw injury, Chunk maintains his dominance at Brooks River, as noted by Mike Fitz, a naturalist for explore.org, who speculated that Chunk sustained the injury during a confrontation with another bear.
This year’s Fat Bear Week garnered over 1.5 million votes from fans, witnessing the bears feasting on an unprecedented abundance of fall salmon at Brooks River, located approximately 483 kilometers from Anchorage. The surplus of salmon has eased conflicts among the bears, according to Naomi Boak, a spokesperson for Katmai Conservancy. The ample salmon run has seen about 200,000 fish make their way up Brooks River, providing ample food for the bears and minimizing competition at fishing spots like Brooks Falls.
In stark contrast to previous years, fishing spots at Brooks Falls remained unoccupied as bears roamed up and down the river. Surprisingly, there was even space for humans to fish alongside the bears, as captured by the Explore.org live cameras. The online voters had the opportunity to view transformation photos of the bears, showcasing their journey from lean to plump over the summer. The competition, launched in 2014 to educate the public about brown bears, sheds light on their behavior and feeding habits as they prepare for hibernation during Alaska’s harsh winters.
