The contestants for 2024’s Fat Bear Week contest were revealed Tuesday night, but only after a deadly bear-on-bear attack at Alaska’s Katmai National Park on Monday delayed the announcement.

Our flag is still flying half mast for Bear 402—tragically murdered in Bear 469’s quest for fatness earlier this week—but the blubbery show must go on. Despite the setback, it’s officially Fat Bear Week, the roundest competition of them all. Forget about March Madness—this is the real bracket to throw your energy behind this year.

Voting starts Wednesday in the annual Fat Bear Week contest at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, with viewers picking their favorite among a dozen brown bears fattened up to survive the winter.

However, the bracket was announced Tuesday celebrating the battle of the behemoths. From chunky cuties to thick teddys, brown bears from Brooks River in Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska will complete during the beloved week that brings joy (or potentially terror) to humans across the world.

Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve have been bulking up for hibernation — and vying for the hearts of Fat Bear Week voters.

Fat Bear Week celebrates the resiliency of the 2,200 brown bears that live in the preserve on the Alaska Peninsula—located from the southwest corner of the mainland to the Aleut

Fans can now cast their votes for the bulkiest grizzlies in Alaska's Katmai National Park, as the 2024 Fat Bear Week contest begins.