Environment
Animals

Incredible Fat Bear Week champ is more than just the fattest bear

He's a legend in his realm.
By Mark Kaufman  on 
The colossal bear 747 in Katmai National Park and Preserve's Brooks River.
The colossal bear 747 in Katmai National Park and Preserve's Brooks River. Credit: Courtesy of L. Law.

Welcome to Fat Bear Week 2022! Katmai National Park and Preserve’s brown bears spent the summer gorging on 4,500-calorie salmon, and they've transformed into rotund giants, some over 1,000 pounds. The Alaskan park is holding its annual playoff-like competition for the fattest of the fat bears (you can vote online(opens in a new tab) between Oct.5 through Oct. 11). Mashable will be following all the ursine activity.


When bear 747 shows up, other bears capitulate. They move out of the way.

He's that big. He's that dominant. And in 2022, the voting public crowned him champion(opens in a new tab) of Katmai National Park and Preserve's Fat Bear Week, the park's annual celebration of these animals' success in the unforgiving wilderness.

747 defeated bear 901, an extremely bulky sow(opens in a new tab) who upset many veteran fat bears during the week-long tournament. Indeed, the competition was particularly intense, from both former winners and younger contestants alike. But 747's girth is unmatched.

A park ranger once described bear 747 as being "more hippopotamus than bear at times." He's the largest bear many Katmai viewers have ever seen (he tips the scale at some 1,400 pounds). He gobbled thousands of fish this summer. He grows so fat he has trouble walking. He's even huge when he emerges from hibernation. He's now a two-time Fat Bear Week champ. And at over 20 years old, the aging bear seems to be getting even larger.

"747 returns to Brooks River [where this population of bears feast on salmon] every summer as a giant and just keeps getting bigger," writes Mike Fitz(opens in a new tab), a former Katmai park ranger and currently a resident naturalist for explore.org(opens in a new tab), the organization that livestreams the bears in the summer and fall. Fitz has watched 747 eat 15 large sockeye salmon (some 67,000 calories) over just a few hours.

For wild bears like 747, none of this is a joke. It's survival. A fat bear is a healthy bear. These animals must subsist entirely on their fat stores for some six months during hibernation, when they attempt to outlast the long winter famine. Bears like 747 — who combine their size and fishing prowess — are often successful in this region of Katmai, a place with a biologically healthy ecosystem that teems with jaw-dropping runs of sockeye salmon.

A fat bear is a healthy bear.

Bear 747 has just a few months to really fatten up before the salmon run dies out, and winter looms large. During that time, he puts on hundreds and hundreds of pounds. The proof is in the pudding:

a brown bear eating salmon in a river
Left: June 2022 Credit: Photo courtesy of C. Rohdenburg
Right: September 2022 Credit: Photo courtesy of L. Law

"Ultimately, 747 ripped apart the salmon — and the competition — to seize his 2nd crown as the 2022 Champion," Katmai National Park and Preserve tweeted(opens in a new tab).

Not just the fattest bear

Bear 747 has the distinction of not just being the fattest bear of Katmai's salmon-rich Brooks River. He's also the most dominant.

This means he sits atop the bear hierarchy. All other bears, even extremely large or assertive bears, will submit to 747's dominion and cede prime fishing territory to him. This allows an already colossal bear to sustain, and amplify, his dominance. Because in the world of bears, size matters. Bear 747 isn't the most aggressive bear. But his girth does the talking.

"Although dominant bears can maintain their rank in the hierarchy through aggression, 747 typically keeps his status by sheer size alone," explains (opens in a new tab)explore.org(opens in a new tab). "Most bears recognize they cannot compete with him physically and they yield space upon his approach."

Last year, bear 747 deposed hyper-aggressive bear 856 (also a regular competitor in the annual Fat Bear Week contest) as the river's most dominant bear. 856 had ruled the river for about a decade, so this was a significant shift in the fat bear hierarchy. On the livestreaming explore.org(opens in a new tab) cameras, bear 747 approached and displaced bear 856 from a premier fishing spot. (Brown bears usually intimidate with bold posturing, as opposed to brawling and potentially hurting themselves.) Interestingly, bear 856 then started the summer of 2022 by asserting dominance over bear 747. For instance, 747 would yield space to 856.

"But by end of the summer, that reversed," explore.org's Fitz told Mashable. 856 began to cede territory to 747.

"None of this would happen without the fish."

It's an unphysical clash of two titans. But one that 747 is currently winning. "I don't think they have ever tangled physically," added Fitz. "It speaks to how familiarity is important. They know each other pretty well." And they likely understand that a fight isn't worth it.

After all, they've got much bigger fish to fry. Each sockeye salmon provides these bears with some 4,500 calories. Ultimately, they consume millions of calories over the course of summer and fall. And while the fat bears get all the internet fame, it's really the salmon that run the show.

Each summer, tens of millions of sockeye salmon return to Alaska's Bristol Bay. The state regulates the catch, meaning a certain number of fish must be allowed to "escape" up the rivers. Hundreds of thousands of fish eventually swim up Katmai's protected Brooks River. It's an ecosystem that, because it's conserved, is able to flourish. The Katmai wilderness is firing on all cylinders. And the bears are the ultimate beneficiary.

"None of this would happen without the fish," said Fitz.

a swarm of salmon in an Alaskan river
A swarm of sockeye salmon as they begin to journey up Katmai National Park and Preserve's Brooks River. Credit: NPS

More in Animals

Mark is the Science Editor at Mashable.


More from Fat Bear Week

The fat bears sense the world in an extraordinary way

This is Fat Bear Week's fattest bear

Fat Bear Week is back and it's the best one yet


Recommended For You
'Yellowjackets' Season 2, episode 4: What does Lottie's mall vision mean?

Dissident artist Ai Weiwei recreated a Monet masterpiece entirely in Lego

Bear-y good news: 'Paddington 3' is officially happening


Frank Ocean's Coachella livestream was cancelled, but the internet finds a way

More in Science
Google Bard introduces new features for generating and debugging code

Why you should consider going green with your gadgets this Earth Day and every day
By Mashable BrandX and HP

Rihanna, Taylor Swift among the few celebrities paying Twitter to keep their blue checkmarks

Avast show us what to expect In 2023 and how to stay safe


Trending on Mashable

'Wordle' today: Here's the answer, hints for April 21

Dril and other Twitter power users begin campaign to 'Block the Blue' paid checkmarks

How to remove Snapchat's My AI from your Chat feed

The biggest stories of the day delivered to your inbox.
By signing up to the Mashable newsletter you agree to receive electronic communications from Mashable that may sometimes include advertisements or sponsored content.
Thanks for signing up. See you at your inbox!