It's time for everyone's favorite bracket battle — Fat Bear Week. The annual online contest returns to Katmai National Park in Alaska as massive brown bears gorge, bulk up and compete for the internet’s vote in a wild, fish-fueled showdown where size is everything.
This year's competitors will be announced live on YouTube on Monday evening. Once the bears and brackets are set, the ferocious game is on.
It's a single-elimination tournament where the public can vote for the bear they believe best exemplifies fatness and success in brown bears. The bear with the most votes advances to the next round — but only one will be crowned Fat Bear Week champion on Sept. 30.
In addition to voting and advocating for their favorite bear, enthusiasts can also watch livestreams from cameras of the bears bulking up from the abundant salmon supply along the Brooks River.
Once the contest ends, park officials typically post “transformation” photos of the contestants showing their visible bulking.
Katmai National Park is home to some of the largest brown bears in the world, officials said. Adult male bears can weigh more than 1,200 pounds by the end of the summer, while the females weigh around half that amount because they get more exercise chasing cubs around.
Brown bears are omnivores, but the plentiful sockeye salmon in the Brooks River are essential to their diet.
Bears need to consume enough calories before hibernation to avoid losing 15-30% of their body weight, according to the National Park Service.
The fat bear frenzy began as Fat Bear Tuesday in 2014, aimed at celebrating the Alaskan bears' winter weight gain and the thriving ecosystem supporting them. Now, thousands of people from around the globe flock to FatBearWeek.org and cast their votes for the chunkiest bear that has captured their hearts.
The contest draws over nearly one million votes each year, according to park officials. It has gotten so popular, officials added a Fat Bear Junior competition for the public to vote on their favorite cubs.
