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Environment
Only the king is Chunk.
Only the king is Chunk.
The ballots are counted, and the champion of Fat Bear Week 2025 is the unbeatable Bear 32, often referred to as Chunk.
The public votes for their top brown bear each year in the tournament styled like March Madness organized by Katmai National Park and Preserve in collaboration with the nonprofit Katmai Conservancy and online platform Explore.org.
Weighing approximately 1,200 pounds, Chunk captured the affection of voters this year through his resilience. He appeared to catch salmon at the Brooks River with a jaw injury that’s on the mend, but likely a persistent disability.
The brown bears must gain weight each autumn, adding up to four pounds daily. This prepares them for winter, when they might shed as much as a third of their accumulated body fat.
This year’s contestants enjoyed greater nourishment and fitness due to a substantial salmon run. Besides having one of the largest populations of brown bears globally — around 2,200 — Katmai National Park claims it’s also fortunate to host one of the healthiest wild sockeye salmon runs remaining in our warming climate, despite record-high temperatures threatening prior years.
Despite the conclusion of Fat Bear Week — narrowly escaping a government shutdown — you can still experience the action on explore.org’s live Brown Bear Cam.
