Don’t underestimate the perseverance of a mama bear.
Fat Bear Week first-timer Bear #132 demonstrated her resiliency this summer after one of her spring cubs separated from the pack. Bear #132 emerged this year with three cubs, her fourth known litter. Around mid-July, one of her cubs somehow ended up on its own and was later spotted wandering near the Brooks River alone. The cub tried approaching other bear families, only to be chased away or ignored.
Cubs without the protection of their mothers face multiple dangers—attacks from other bears, starvation, and other life-threatening risks. Bear #132’s cub managed to survive and was reunited with 132 after several days on its own.
“Perhaps a bit of luck was involved, but maybe the reunion was made more likely because of 132’s experience at Brooks River,” explore.org writes of the reunion. “She knows the area well and where her cubs are safest. Experience is a significant advantage for mother bears, and 132 showcases it through the survival of her cubs.”
Bear #132’s family history is not confirmed. She was first identified in 2009 as a 4.5-year-old subadult. It’s been speculated that she is a littermate of Bear #128 Grazer, a two-time Fat Bear Week champion (2023 and 2024). She is also potentially the mother of Bear #806, another Fat Bear Week 2026 contender who made headlines earlier this summer for killing an unrelated cub.
If you’re trying to spot Bear #132 on the explore.org cameras stationed around Alaska’s Katmai National Park, look for her three cubs and the the inverted V shape on her forehead. She also has dark brown fur and forward-leaning ears.
You can vote for Bear #132 and her cubs starting Tuesday, September 22, from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. EDT (9 a.m. to 6 p.m. PDT and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ADT). Bear #132 faces off against Bear #284 (Electra) and her two cubs, a bear with a long lineage at Katmai, in the first round of Fat Bear Week voting.
Here is everything you need to know to prepare for this year’s celebration of Alaska’s chunky predators:
What is Fat Bear Week?
Think March Madness, just without the basketball and significantly more bears. Fat Bear Week is a single-elimination tournament, where bear enthusiasts from around the world can vote online for their favorite chunky bear. After each round, the bear with the most votes advances until the winner is announced. According to the Katmai Conservancy, the event began as a one-day event in 2014 with 1,700 votes cast. Only 10 years later, 1.2 million votes were cast from over 100 countries.
The brown bears return to Brooks Falls for the salmon migration every year in late June, where viewers can watch them on explore.org’s livestream. There, they will feast to fatten up for the long winter ahead. By late summer, the nutritious fish will spawn and then begin to die. The bears will then move to the lower Brooks River in September and October to eat the dead and dying salmon near the river’s mouth.
Eating all of this salmon is important because the heftier the bear, the better chance they will survive their long winter hibernation. Despite being the poster species for winter hibernation, bears are not “deep hibernators,” they way that squirrels, bats, and bees are. Bears enter a state called torpor, which is an involuntary state primarily triggered by lack of food. During this time, the bears rely on stored fat reserves for energy. A torpid bear’s eating, drinking, and waste functions will cease, as its body metabolizes these stores it put on over the summer.
When is Fat Bear Week 2026?
This year, Fat Bear Week begins on Tuesday, September 22, and a winner will be crowned on Tuesday, September 29.
How can I vote?
Votes may be cast from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. EDT (9 a.m. to 6 p.m. PDT and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ADT) from September 22 and 29 at fatbearweek.org.
Photographs comparing the bears from earlier in the summer and later in the summer will be shown, so voters can get an idea of just how much weight the bears put on during their salmon fest. An adult male bear can go from roughly 700 pounds in the early summer to over 1,200 pounds by fall. Voters are also encouraged to get familiar with each bear’s life history and the unique challenges they face to survive.
Which bears are competing this year?
This year’s competition includes 16 adult brown bears separated into four main groups—mother bears, single females (those who do not have cubs), sub-adults, and adult males.
In 2025, Bear #32 (Chunk) took the crown, despite beginning the salmon run with a freshly broken jaw. He was likely injured while fighting with another bear for a mate, but he still managed to catch plenty of fish. Chunk is known for his dominance and size, but also narrow-set eyes, dark fur, a prominent brow ridge, and a distinctive scar across his muzzle.
Chunk wasn’t always a fan favorite though. In 2024, he lost the Fat Bear Week crown for the second year in a row to mama bear Grazer. The two bears had been involved in an incident in which two of Grazer’s 2024 cubs were attacked by Chunk after falling over a waterfall. Grazer put up a fight against Chunk to defend her cubs, but one cub died after the encounter.
What happened to Fat Bear Week Junior?
In past years, Fat Bear Week Junior has pitted cubs against each other in a similar, single-elimination bracket. For 2026, the competition will not happen. Instead, young cubs are competing as part of family units in the adult bracket.
How can I support Katmai’s bears?
Donations can be made to Katmai Conservancy’s Otis Fund. The Otis Fund is named after Bear #480 (Otis), who won four Fat Bear Week titles before his death around 2024. All donations made between September 22 and October 3 will be matched by explore.org.
What happened with the bears this summer?
This year’s livestream featured an example of how wild (and upsetting to humans) nature can be. On Tuesday, July 28, the live-cams captured a young brown bear cub being killed and eaten by an unrelated mother bear (Bear #806). The deceased cub was born this spring and the child of Bear #909, a 10-year-old brown bear. Bear #909 started the season with two cubs, but now lost both.
On Sunday, August 2, one of Bear #335’s (Jolly) cubs died, after following three unrelated cubs up a tree. The mother of the cubs already in the tree attacked Bear #335’s cub, who did not survive the encounter. The identity of the mother bear who killed the spring cub was not confirmed.
Following the first cub’s death, naturalist Mike Fitz and park rangers Christine Loberg and Sarah Bruce said this likely the first documented case occurring at Brooks River. While there is no one answer as to why mother bears are killing cubs, some experts suspect bear adoption, food scarcity, and fights for dominance all play a role.
Additionally, this year also saw a cub with silver-hued fur, one cub who hopefully learned important lesson about porcupine quill safety, the unique fishing stylings of Bear #164 (Bucky Dent), Bear #284’s (Electra) family who can “walk on water,” and even a few cubs take a tumble over a waterfall.