tubby teddy time

October 2, 2022 10:07 AM

Yes, my fellow bear lovers, it's that wonderful time of year! Welcome to Fat Bear Week 2022, organised by the ever educational team at Katmai National Park.

This year's festivities will include live chat events hosted by Katmai in the Brooks Falls Live Chat Channel, where they will, among other things, be revealing this years' Fat Bear lineup on 3 October.

Fat Bear Junior (the competition for chubby cubbies) has already run and been won by the much deserving yearling cub of bear 909.

Voting for Fat Bear Week will open on 5 October. In the meantime, review the guidance on how to pick your fave Fat Bear:

Your Fat Bear Week vote can be based on many factors. You may want to consider the tremendous growth spurts experienced by younger bears. Subadult (teenage) bears and cubs, for example, grow proportionally more each year than even the biggest adults. Perhaps you want to weigh your vote toward bears with extenuating circumstances such as a mother’s cost of raising cubs or the additional challenges that older bears face as they age. A mother bear's ability to gain weight is harder compared to other bears because she must provide for herself and the welfare of her cubs. An older bear can have difficulty finding access to its preferred fishing spots due to competition with larger and younger bears. You can also vote for the bear you think is the simply the largest and fattest. In short, Fat Bear Week is a subjective competition.

You can also follow Katmai's vital conservation work through their website, and put in an order for the 2023 Fat Bear calendar (not to be confused with other fat bear calendars which may be available)!

posted by fight or flight (17 comments total)

Bears are just so cute...

But, lethal.

GO FAT BEARS!
posted by Windopaene at 10:15 AM on October 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

This post is more dangerous than other years: the Katmai Conservancy shop is full of good stuff.
posted by gladly at 10:44 AM on October 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

My (old) man Otis won last year, I hope he's still kicking. Fat Bear Week is the best.
posted by maxwelton at 10:46 AM on October 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

wooooo Fat Bear Week!!! bring the cutie bear bootie!
posted by supermedusa at 11:10 AM on October 2, 2022

Gotta say Holly is looking CHONKY this year.
posted by fight or flight at 11:14 AM on October 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

maxwelton, Otis is indeed still around, still looking large and in charge at 30 years old. I think we could see a returning champ taking the crown this year, although there are a lot of contenders.

On a serious note it's great to see these bears thriving in such hard times. Katmai's team often points out how important the bears are as a measure of the health of an ecosystem so it's always great to see those big bellies and fuzzy butts.
posted by fight or flight at 11:17 AM on October 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

It's the most wonderful time of the year!
posted by kitten kaboodle at 11:29 AM on October 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

Just one of the reasons October is a most excellent month.
posted by praemunire at 11:34 AM on October 2, 2022

This is the first year I've been aware of the underwater cam. Highlights, not live, but you get bear paws and duck butts.
posted by JanetLand at 1:06 PM on October 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

They're all good bears.
posted by winesong at 2:20 PM on October 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

H O L L Y
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 4:18 PM on October 2, 2022

Yay 909's cub! So good to see her fat and healthy after how much the bear-watching folks at work worried over her last summer. We took to calling 909 "teen mom bear," easily identifiable from the cub (who followed her around rather than climbing up a tree most of the time) and her nervous tic habit of holding her standing paw with her fishing paw while standing on the Brooks Falls lip. Honestly, I didn't think that little bear would make it — half of them don't, after all, and 909 took a while to get into the groove of fishing. Plus there was the day mom and baby got pinned on the lip by Grazer and baby fell off the waterfall. But no! She's back and fatter than ever, and I'm so glad to be wrong.
posted by deludingmyself at 7:31 PM on October 2, 2022 [2 favorites]

My week is going to be a good one, knowing Otis is still bringing it.
posted by maxwelton at 10:05 PM on October 2, 2022

They're not fat. They're just big boned.
posted by srboisvert at 5:15 AM on October 3, 2022

Poor Otis, I still love you man. Keep fishing and ignore the haters.
posted by maxwelton at 12:29 AM on October 10, 2022

For posterity: Fat Bear Week emerges from scandal to crown a new champion. 747 aka Bear Force One was announced the winner in the face of a last minute ballot stuffing effort favoring Holly.
posted by jedicus at 8:16 AM on October 14, 2022

The Anchorage Daily News had a tiny daily column about the bears for the week, and the writer put one of the stories about her favorite Holly in a little Twitter thread. It’s the sweetest bear story you will ever read.
posted by charmedimsure at 11:37 PM on October 18, 2022