She has blond ears. She has a temper that makes 1,200-pound males reconsider their life choices. And she is, quite literally, one of the most successful athletes in the world if you measure athleticism by salmon consumption.
Most people know her as 128 Grazer, the back-to-back champion of the annual Fat Bear Week. But to the bears of Katmai National Park, she’s the one you don't mess with. Honestly, her rise to fame isn't just about her "badonkadonk" or her massive pre-hibernation frame. It's a story of survival, motherhood, and a very public quest for revenge that played out on the live streams of the Brooks River.
Why 128 Grazer is basically Katmai Royalty
The fat bear contest isn't just a beauty pageant for the bulky. It’s a survival metric. Bears in Alaska have a short window to pack on enough calories to survive a winter where they lose a third of their body weight. Grazer? She’s a pro.
She first showed up at Brooks River in 2005. Back then, she was just a scrawny sub-adult. Now, she’s a powerhouse. She has this long, straight muzzle and those iconic blond ears that make her easy to spot even when she’s just a fuzzy blob in the distance.
But what really sets Grazer apart is her hierarchy-shattering aggression.
In the bear world, the biggest males usually get the best fishing spots at the lip of the falls. Grazer didn't get that memo. She's known to preemptively charge males twice her size just to ensure they stay far away from her cubs. Most bears—even the legends like 747 or 856—often yield space to her. They’ve learned that "getting Grazered" isn't worth the trouble.
The 2024 Rematch: More Than Just a Vote
If you followed the 2024 fat bear contest, you know it was... heavy.
Earlier that summer, a massive male named 32 Chunk—the most dominant bear on the river—attacked Grazer’s cubs after they accidentally swept over the waterfall. One of the cubs didn't make it. Grazer fought like hell to save it, a scene captured live on the explore.org cams that left thousands of viewers heartbroken.
Fast forward to the Fat Bear Week finals: it was Grazer vs. Chunk.
It wasn't even close.
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- Grazer: 71,248 votes
- Chunk: 30,460 votes
She won by a landslide. It felt like a collective "we’ve got your back" from the internet. She became the first "working mom" to win the title while actually raising a cub. While the contest is about who's the fattest, for many, it was about her resilience.
The Science of the "Grazer Transformation"
How does a bear go from sleek to "stuffed with sockeye" so fast?
Basically, they enter a state called hyperphagia. Their bodies stop responding to leptin (the hormone that says "hey, you're full"). They just eat. And eat. Grazer is an elite angler. She’s often seen on the "lip" of Brooks Falls, which is the prime real estate. It’s dangerous, but it has the highest concentration of salmon.
Some bears eat 40 or more salmon in a single day.
Think about that. A single sockeye salmon is roughly 4,500 calories. If she eats 40, that's 180,000 calories in 24 hours. If a human did that, we'd explode. For Grazer, it’s just Tuesday.
Why motherhood makes her fatter (and fiercer)
Being a mom in Katmai is a high-stakes job. Grazer has raised at least three litters. Because she has to provide for herself and her offspring, she has to be more efficient than the solo males. She can't afford to waste energy on long fights, so she uses "situational dominance." She makes it very clear, very quickly, that she is willing to go to war.
This earns her the best fishing spots. Better spots = more fat. More fat = better chance of her cubs surviving the winter.
What happened in 2025?
You might be wondering if she pulled off the "three-peat."
Well, she made it to the semifinals in 2025, but the crown eventually shifted. The 2025 winner was actually her old rival, 32 Chunk. After years of being the runner-up, Chunk finally bulked up enough to take the title.
But Grazer didn't lose because she was "skinny." She was still a massive, formidable presence. The competition is just that fierce. Sometimes the voters want a new hero, but in the eyes of Katmai fans, she remains the "Queen of the Brooks River."
Lessons from the Fattest Bear
So, what can we actually take away from Grazer’s journey?
- Adaptability is King: Grazer wasn't born the biggest. She learned to out-fish and out-maneuver larger bears by being smarter and more aggressive when it mattered.
- Resilience is Real: Seeing her lose a cub in July and then dominate the river in September is a wild testament to the "keep moving" nature of the wild.
- Hierarchy is Fluid: Just because you aren't the biggest "male" in the room doesn't mean you can't own the room. Grazer proved that temperament and skill often beat raw size.
If you want to support the bears like Grazer, the best thing to do is keep an eye on the Katmai Conservancy. They do the actual work of protecting the habitat so these bears can keep stuffing their faces for years to come. You can also watch the live cams every summer starting in June—it’s better than most reality TV.
Actionable Insight: To get the most out of Fat Bear Week, don't just look at the "after" photos. Follow the Bear ID books provided by the National Park Service to learn the individual histories of bears like 435 Holly or 480 Otis. Understanding their life stories makes the final vote feel a lot more meaningful than just picking the roundest fuzzy circle.