Fans have crowned a winner of Fat Bear Week 2021 - here are all of this year's positively giant competitors
Gabbi Shaw
- Fat Bear Week at Katmai National Park, Alaska, is over and a new champion has been crowned.
- Every year, people vote on Facebook in a March Madness-style bracket to pick the bear that's fattened up the most ahead of winter.
- This year's champion was 480 Otis, who has won three times before.
Fat Bear Week kicked off by re-introducing us to 435 Holly, who packed on an impressive amount of weight in just a couple of months.
435 Holly was the Fat Bear champion of 2019, but this year she was knocked out of the competition in the first round.
Katmai describes Holly as "one of the more experienced and tolerant mother bears at Brooks River."
Holly was eliminated by 128 Grazer in the first match-up - she really packed on the pounds.
This year, 128 Grazer brought her two cubs with her to Brooks River, where the bears are photographed, as she's one of the most defensive mothers, according to Katmai.
Sadly for her, though, her fierceness wasn't enough to make it past round two.
Another first-round competitor was 634 Popeye, who definitely ate enough spinach to bulk up and live up to his name.
Popeye has overcome a lot of other bears to make it this far — in 2004 and 2017, he had a severe limp, which he's overcome twice. But he couldn't overcome his chunkier competition, and he was knocked out in round one.
On the other side of the bracket, 812 took an early lead, as he was looking extra chubby this year.
812 is thought to be the offspring of 402, another Fat Bear entrant. His weight gain was enough to send him all the way to the quarter-finals, where he was beaten by the soon-to-be-crowned champion.
The first bear to be knocked out by 812 was 131, who's just a teenager.
Like a true teen, 131 clearly ate everything in sight — though in her case, it was to get ready to hibernate. She was only identified as an adult in 2020, meaning she has many Fat Bear Week appearances ahead of her.
402 was also eliminated in week one, but she has other accomplishments to brag about.
402 is the most experienced mother at Brooks River, with seven litters to her name. So even though she wasn't quite thick enough to continue in Fat Bear Week this year, 402 should be proud.
132's Spring Cub is only 9 months old, but look at that astounding belly.
According to Katmai, a spring cub weighs just 1 pound at birth — and by September, this cub weighed roughly 70 pounds.
132's Spring Cub entered in the second round and went up against — and beat — 128 Grazer. The little chunk made it to the quarter-finals before getting eliminated.
Another second-round entrant was the aptly named 32 Chunk.
32 Chunk made it to the finals in 2020 (he weighed more than 1,200 pounds), but this year he was knocked out in his first appearance by 151 Walker, who in turn would make it to the finals in 2021.
503 was introduced in the second round - he has a real Cinderella story.
503, according to Katmai, separated from his mother a year earlier than most cubs do, and he was left to fend for himself until he was adopted.
But now look at him — he's downright huge. Sadly, he was eliminated by 812.
The last second-round entrant was reigning 2020 Fat Bear champion, 747.
747 was the Fat Bear champ last year, weighing at least an estimated 1,400 pounds. He's easily the most dominant bear at Brooks River.
But in an upset, he was eliminated the same round he was introduced. His defeat was by the eventual winner, so it's a respectable exit.
Saving the (almost) best for (almost) last, 151 Walker flew through the first three rounds.
151 Walker's butt is his real advantage — it's huge. Last year, he was estimated to weigh 1,000 pounds, but Katmai reported that he may be even larger this year.
His impressive weight gain, sadly, wasn't enough to take home the Fat Bear crown though.
This year's winner was none other than 480 Otis. This is his fourth win.
While he may not be the biggest bear, look how scrawny he was in July. Otis gained so much weight that it looks like he doubled in size.
Clearly, he knows how to play the game — he won in 2014, 2016, and 2017, too. There's no denying it: He's the best, fattest bear.
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