Fat Bear Week 2024 roars ahead after delay

• Last year's chunky champion was 128 Grazer, a fierce mother who is returning to the salmon-slurping showdown this year.

The (really) big picture: The contest celebrates the resilience of the estimated 2,200 bears that call the park home and the biological richness of the area, where there are more brown bears than people.

• The park's bears have been gorging on Brooks River sockeye salmon throughout the summer in preparation for hibernation.

How it works: Single elimination. So many salmon. One winner.

• The competition is a bracket-style face-off (think March Madness for the furry mammals) where you can vote for the bear you think "best exemplifies fatness and success in brown bears."
• Viewers vote for the chubbiest champ on Explore.org, the multimedia organization that facilitates the contest.
• Fans can watch live cams of the park, where they can catch glimpses of the 12 bears competing.
• Fat Bear Week runs from Wednesday to Oct. 8, otherwise known as Fat Bear Tuesday.

Friction point: The viral contest is celebrating 10 years of the battle for the burliest bear — but this year, a brutal reminder of the reality of nature delayed the unveiling of the bears by a day.

• Cameras set up in the park to stream footage of the bears to viewers around the world captured the moment an anticipated competitor, a female dubbed Bear 402, was killed by a male during a fight Monday.
• "National parks like Katmai protect not only the wonders of nature, but also the harsh realities," park spokesperson Matt Johnson said in a statement. "Each bear seen on the webcams is competing with others to survive."

Match No. 1 is a showdown between 519 and 909 Jr.: Two ladies hunting to be crowned the chunkiest.

• 519 is a nearly 3-year-old female going through her "awkward" adolescent years who was thrust suddenly into independence when she was separated from her mother.
• 909 Junior descends from Fat Bear royalty. Her grandmother was the 2018 champion.
• The winner will take on the rotund reigning champ, Grazer.

The intrigue: The record-holding round boy 480 Otis, the inaugural fat bear champion who took home three more titles, is not competing in this year's bracket.

• The FOAT (fattest of all time) has not been seen this year, prompting speculation the roughly 30-year-old bear could have retired from competition in a different salmon spot.
• But two-time winner 747, described as a "giant among bears," is back in the competition pack this year.

Match No. 2, for which voting also began Wednesday, is pinning 909 — 909 Junior's mother and a skilled angler — against 903 Gully, a young male with an appetite for birds.

What's next: Voting for the clash of the chubbiest between 519 and 909 Junior and 909 and 903 Gully closes at 9 p.m. ET.

• Let the hungry (bear) games begin.

Go deeper: Fat Bear Week is here: Meet the contestants