"747," a portly brown bear who really knows how to pack on the pounds, won Katmai National Park's Fat Bear 2020 contest. This picture was taken September 20/NPS

Comparing someone to a wide-body jetliner that could carry 500 passengers is not typically construed as a compliment, but when it comes to a brown bear putting on the pounds for winter, well, "747" suits the winner of Katmai National Park's Fat Bear 2020 contest.

The portly bruin beat out 11 other Katmai bears for the title. Online fans joining in the celebration of these bears' corpulent bodies voted bear 747 as the 2020 Fat Bear Week champion. The voting was around a March-madness style competition that ran from September 30 through Tuesday.  747 joins a cohort of Fat Bear winners from seasons past, including 409 Beadnose, 480 Otis, and last year’s queen, 435 Holly.

Bear 747 was first classified and given his number in 2004.  Since that time, he has grown to be maybe the largest and heaviest bear on the Brooks River.  Although 747 has been one of the largest bears on the river, this is his first Fat Bear Week Championship. This year he really packed on the pounds, looking like he was fat enough to hibernate in July and yet continuing to eat until his belly seemed to drag along the ground by late September. When asked what he intends to do now that he has won, the only response was a look before going back to fishing in the Jacuzzi near the Brooks Falls, one of his favorite fishing spots.

747 was even a bit hefty back in June before he turned to a summer of fishing, and eating/NPS

The bears of Katmai, including those who competed in this year’s Fat Bear Week, use their skill in an attempt to sate their profound hunger and meet the challenge of survival. For these bears, fatness means odds are good for a successful hibernation during which time they live off their accumulated fat, losing up to one-third of their body mass in the process. 

Though these bears have courageously consumed copious quantities of salmon to insulate, hydrate and sustain themselves, they will soon all find shelter for their long winter hibernation. The real battle begins then as these bears must survive off the fat they’ve stored up.

You can view before (skinny) and after (fat) photos of the bears at the park's Flicker site.

Fat bears exemplify the richness of Katmai National Park and Bristol Bay, Alaska, a wild region that is home to more brown bears than people and the largest, heathiest runs of sockeye salmon left on the planet.  

Fat Bear Week is possible through a partnership between Katmai National Park and Preserve, explore.org and the Katmai Conservancy. 

Since 2012 audiences around the world have been able to enjoy the bears of Brooks River live-streamed on explore.org’s Bear Cams.