Bear #903

Year First Observed: 2016
Year Last Observed: 2026
Age: 20

Bear 903, better known as Gully, is a young adult male and a son of two time Fat Bear Week champion 128 Grazer. He earned his nickname with a habit that almost no other bear at Brooks River shares: he hunts gulls. He has competed in Fat Bear Week since 2024 and is quickly becoming one of the stronger males on the river.

How to recognize him

Gully is a medium large male with grizzled brown fur and a long, straight muzzle. In early summer he is easy to spot on the lip of Brooks Falls, where he tends to sit slumped over in a pose that fans compare to Eeyore.

Raised at the falls

Gully was born in 2016 and is believed to be one of three cubs in Grazer's first known litter. Fans who watched that family remember him as the bigger, blonder of the two cubs that later got numbers, the other being his sister, 902.

Growing up with Grazer was never quiet. Unlike many mothers, she brought her cubs right into busy places like Brooks Falls and stood her ground against much larger bears to protect them. That gave Gully a close look at both the rewards of the best fishing spots and the risks that come with them. All three cubs made it to independence in 2018, and rangers began tracking Gully on his own that year.

Bird on the menu

In 2020, during one of the biggest salmon runs ever recorded at Brooks River, Gully tried something new. Most bears there simply ignore birds. Gully started charging into flocks of gulls that were resting or feeding along the river and catching them to eat. No one knows what sparked it, but the habit stuck and gave him his name.

Moving up

Gully has grown big enough to compete for the most productive fishing spots at Brooks Falls. He is now more dominant than some older males, including 151 Walker, a former Fat Bear Week finalist. With salmon to eat and that kind of confidence, he may not need gulls much longer, but he has already shown he will try just about anything.

He also has family close by. 428 Studious, a female from Grazer's second litter, is his younger sibling.

Fat Bear Week

  • 2024: Fat Bear Week debut

  • 2026: Competed

Quick facts

  • Sex: Male

  • Born: 2016

  • Mother: 128 Grazer (believed)

  • Siblings: 902, 428 Studious

  • First identified on his own: 2018

  • Known for: Catching gulls, his Eeyore sit on the lip of the falls