Year First Observed: 2018
Year Last Observed: 2026
Age: 8

Bear 131, called Marshmallow by many fans, is a young adult female and one of the blondest bears at Brooks River. She first appeared in Fat Bear Week in 2021 as a scrappy subadult and came back in 2026 looking fatter than she ever had. Watching her grow from one bracket to the next is a good lesson in what the first few years on her own ask of a young bear.

How to recognize her

Marshmallow has light brown to blond fur, blond ears, a short muzzle, and dark rings around her eyes that stand out most in early summer. As a young bear the park noted that her dark claws had tan tips. By late summer her coat turns a grizzled brown, but she is still one of the palest bears on the river.

On her own

She was born in 2018 and left her mother's care in 2020, when rangers first identified her as an independent bear about two and a half years old.

Life as a subadult is tough. Young bears sit at the very bottom of the river's pecking order. Bigger bears push them out of good fishing spots or keep them away entirely, and they have to figure out how to eat without a mother's help. In early summer 2021, Marshmallow couldn't reach much salmon, so she went looking for other food, including small mammals and plants. That flexibility is a big part of how young bears survive their first years alone.

Like most subadults, she also spent time exploring, setting up her own home range, and playing with bears her age, all while slowly getting better at catching fish.

Growing up

Every season since, Marshmallow has come back bigger and more skilled. In September 2026 she looked proportionally fatter than at any point in her life, a good sign for a female bear her age.

She is now at the age when many female brown bears have their first cubs, though she has never been seen with any. That isn't surprising. Brown bears reproduce slowly, and a female needs plenty of stored fat to support a pregnancy and nurse newborn cubs in the den over winter. With the condition she was in by fall 2026, cubs could be in her near future.

Fat Bear Week

• 2021: Competed as a subadult

• 2026: Competed

Quick facts

• Sex: Female

• Born: 2018

• First identified on her own: 2020

• Known litters: None yet

• Known for: Pale blond coat, dark eye rings