"An Alaskan brown bear nicknamed Chunk has won the Fat Bear Week 2025 online voting competition, improving on his previous personal best as a three-time defeated finalist in past years. The body positive competition showcases brown bears in the Katmai National Park at their corpulent best, following a summer of gorging to prepare themselves for their winter hibernation each year."
"Voters and viewers online could survey images and video footage of the competitors, including from a series of cameras placed in the Brooks River trying to catch the bears feasting and fighting for the best spots to fish salmon returning their birthplace to lay their eggs. Shots of the winner were characterized by his misshapen muzzle, the result of a broken jaw that did little to slow his consumption."
Chunk (formerly bear 32) won Fat Bear Week 2025 after a one-week head-to-head knockout, claiming 96,350 votes versus 63,725 for bear 856. The competition showcases Katmai National Park brown bears after a summer of gorging to prepare for hibernation. Chunk bears a misshapen muzzle from a broken jaw yet remained a dominant feeder at Brooks River; his weight was estimated at roughly 545 kilograms (1,200 pounds) without a precise pre-contest weigh-in. Bear 856 defeated two-time defending champion Grazer in the semifinals, continuing a longstanding rivalry dynamic among the park’s prominent bears. Results were released overnight amid a US government shutdown.
Read at www.dw.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]