Katmai’s Biggest Bracket Yet: 16 Bears, Record Cubs, and a Champion Defending His Crown
Sixteen brown bears are competing in this year's Fat Bear Week 2026 bracket, four more than any previous edition, after Katmai National Park and Preserve reported one of its busiest cub seasons in years.
Voting opened Tuesday at Brooks River in southwest Alaska, where the bears spend their summers gorging on salmon before a winter with nothing to eat at all. The single-elimination bracket, run jointly by the National Park Service, Explore.org and the Katmai Conservancy, pairs bears head-to-head through fatbearweek.org, with the public choosing who advances each round. The final vote closes on September 29.
Fat Bear Week 2026: A Bigger Field Than Ever
Twelve bears made the cut in past years. This time the field includes five family units, two subadults, four single adult females an...