Events
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Upcoming Events
July 2025 Explore Live Chats
Fat Bear Week 2025
(Dates to be announced)
Fat Bear Week is an annual celebration of brown bears preparing for winter hibernation in Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Typically held each October, the event showcases the park’s bears—particularly those who fish along Brooks River—as they gain weight in a natural phenomenon called hyperphagia.
Hosted by Katmai National Park and Explore.org, Fat Bear Week features a single-elimination bracket where the public votes for their favorite burly contenders based on before-and-after photos and live footage from bearcams. It’s a lighthearted competition with a serious purpose: to highlight the resilience of brown bears, the importance of a healthy salmon run, and the ecosystems that support them.
What began in 2014 as a one-day event has grown into a global phenomenon celebrating conservation, wildlife education, and the charismatic charm of some of the fattest bears on Earth.
The Otis Fund 2025
(Dates to be announced)
The Otis Fund is Katmai Conservancy’s annual Fat Bear Week fundraiser, named in honor of beloved bear 480 Otis. Held each October during Fat Bear Week, the campaign celebrates Otis’s legacy while raising vital support for the bears, salmon, and wild landscapes of Katmai National Park and Preserve.
Donations to The Otis Fund support a wide range of conservation efforts, including bear monitoring, salmon research, education programs, and visitor services. Thanks to a generous matching gift from Explore.org, every dollar donated during the campaign is doubled—making each contribution go twice as far.
In 2024, the campaign raised over $370,000 from more than 4,700 supporters. Our friends at Explore.org contributed $402,000, exceeding their match in honor of bear 402, and bringing the total impact to over $770,000 for Katmai.
What began as a tribute to one bear has become a powerful way for people around the world to give back to the ecosystem that supports them all. Whether you’re voting in the bracket, watching the bearcams, or cheering for your favorite fat bear, The Otis Fund is how you can turn admiration into action.
Fat Bear Junior 2025
(Dates to be announced)
Fat Bear Junior is the playful prelude to Katmai National Park’s Fat Bear Week, an early competition featuring the park’s youngest brown bears. Typically held each September, this two-day bracket highlights four cubs (either spring cubs or yearlings) as they bulk up for their first or second winter hibernation.
Viewers can vote online for their favorite "chubby cubby" based on before-and-after photos and bear cam observations. The winning cub earns a place in the main Fat Bear Week bracket alongside Katmai’s largest and most experienced bears.
More than just cute, Fat Bear Junior introduces audiences to the early challenges of life in the wild, from learning to fish to surviving in a competitive ecosystem. It’s an opportunity to cheer for the next generation of Brooks River bears while learning about the vital role Katmai’s salmon-rich rivers play in their growth and survival.