Chunk, Bucky Dent, Walker, and Gully all compete. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Chunk faces a tough battle against a younger bear with an innovative fishing technique and catchy name: Bucky Dent . In the other part of the big boys bracket, we see Brooks River regular Walker and his ferocious butt face a bird-eater appropriately named Gully. We also see a battle of up-and-coming subadults in Round 1, Part 2 of voting.

Mama bear #224 splashed down to collect her cubs. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. The two curious cubs managed to navigate the falls before being fetched by their mother. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy . After spending the summer eating the fatty pink salmon swimming through Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, it's time to celebrate the park's iconic brown bears (). Fat Bear Week begins on Tuesday, September 22, and here is everything you need to know.

In case you didn't know, it's Fat Bear Week--the annual tournament that pits the brown bears of Katmai National Park against each other to see who gained the most weight over the year. You can vote for your favorite bear in a March Madness-style bracket where one is crowned the biggest bear of the bunch by the week's end. It's a fun and cheeky project hosted by the U.S. National Parks Service and Explore.org, a multimedia organization best known for the live cams of wildlife like the Brooks Falls Brown Bears of Katmai National Park. While the stream enjoys a healthy and devoted following throughout the year--folks who have created fan wikis, forums, and stan communities for individual bears--its viewer count balloons like its eponymous creatures when Fat Bear Week rolls around. And, as it turns out, it's these very same viewers who can help keep the bears alive and thriving in a world that's rapidly endangering their ecosystems. "We have thousands who watch the bear cams, especially right now with Fat Bear Week," Ed Miller, the co-founder of the BearID Project conservation group, told The Daily Beast.