A brown bear weighing over 500kg (78st 8lb) has overcome a broken jaw to become the winner of Fat Bear Week 2025.
Chunk received the most votes in a competition between 12 brown bears where voters pick the one they believe best exemplifies fatness and success as they prepare for winter hibernation.
Park rangers at Alaska's Katmai National Park, home to some of the largest brown bears in the world, praised Chunk's resilience in learning how to fish with his injury.
He reminded us how resilient bears are and how they have the ability to recover from injury and hardship, ranger Naomi Boak said.
Voters from over 100 countries followed the competition at Katmai's Brooks River, where bear watchers could see the bears fishing for salmon and competing for food.
One fan, Amy Hall, described Chunk as an inspiration during a livestream, sharing her own struggles and recovery parallels with the bear's journey. Thank you, Chunk, for being an inspiration, she noted.
Chunk suffered a broken jaw in June during suspected fights with another bear, common during mating season, but he adapted successfully, learning how to fish against the odds.
The competition started as a light-hearted event with 1,700 votes in 2014 and has since evolved into a global phenomenon, showcasing the challenges faced by these majestic creatures as they prepare for winter.
