Are Joe and Josie Bruin Eligible for Fat Bear Week?

We are at the end of Fat Bear Week, an annual tournament that pits bears in Katmai National Park, Alaska, against each other in a week-long bracket style competition to determine who is — drumroll please — the fattest bear. We wanted to see how our own mighty Bruin mascots compare to the biggest bears in the competition. 

Fat Bear Week goes all the way back to 2014, when former park ranger Mike Fitz created Fat Bear Tuesday, an event where visitors to Katmai National Park could look at photos of bears and vote for the one they thought was the fattest. The next year, the tournament was held online and was extended to a week, kicking off the Fat Bear Week we now know and love.

There are a few requirements for fat bear hopefuls to meet in order to compete. Let’s see if our very own Joe and Josie Bruin are eligible for the Fat Bear Week tournament.

First, bears of all sexes are eligible in the Fat Bear Week tournament, though male bears tend to have an advantage due to their size; according to a PBS article, male bears are close to two times heavier than females. However, two female bears have made it to the Fat Bear semifinals this year, so both Joe and Josie have a shot at the title of Fattest Bear.

Second, all of the bears in the tournament must be brown bears. Although the original Joe Bruin of the 1950s was a live Himalayan bear cub and the first Josie Bruin’s species is unclear, the current designs for both Bruins are indeed brown bears. Joe and Josie are on a roll!

Finally, in order to qualify for Fat Bear Week, brown bears of the Katmai National Park must have been spotted catching sockeye salmon at a specific 1.5 mile section of the Brooks River, both in the summer and the fall. Unfortunately, as Joe and Josie live in their native habitat of UCLA campus, they have not caught any sockeye salmon in the Brooks River, so they are disqualified from Fat Bear Week. They do enjoy a good salmon poke bowl at the Northern Lights Cafe, though!

For anyone who wants to participate in Fat Bear Week in the future, voting is open between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. by visiting the Explore.org website for the duration of Fat Bear Week. And even though Joe and Josie Bruin are not eligible for the title of Fattest Bear, they are number one in our hearts.