aerial view of Western's campus at night, with golden lights surrounded by dark trees

One Quick Question: Fat Bear Week is over (congrats to ‘Chunk’!), but does its impact live on?

Fat Bear Week gets a lot of attention, because bears! We asked The Planet — WWU’s award-winning environmental journalism magazine — whether it’s also a stealth way to make science accessible and interesting to non-scientists

by Jennifer Nerad

University Communications

At at estimated 1200 pounds, Katmai bear #32, Chunk, was crowned champion of 2025’s Fat Bear Week. Brown bears need to put on weight so they can survive their long winter’s hibernation. Photo: T. Carmack/Katmai National Park & Preserve via Flickr.

“Fat Bear Week,” run by the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, is the annual fall competition online that pits bear against bear, where they post photos of the parks’ biggest bears, and people get to vote for the bear they think has fattened up the most in preparation for winter hibernation.  

It is so popular that it has had a few spin-offs: Washington Department of Natural Resources ran a salmon-focused campaign called “Skinny Bear Week”; “Fat Bear Junior” is for bear cubs; and the National Park Service has even highlighted prairie dogs with “Fat Prairie Dog Day.” It makes you wonder, is there more than meets the eye? Does this count as science communication, and does it contribute to awareness and conservation efforts?  

To get the skinny on Fat Bear Week, we reached out to Jeff Shaw, who teaches in WWU’s Journalism department and advises The Planet magazine, WWU’s award-winning quarterly student-run environmental publication, to ask about what makes for good science communication and how best to engage with non-scientists, in a fun way, about serious topics.  

Fat Bear Week is a single elimination tournament. For each match-up, the bear with the most votes advances to the next round. Image: Katmai National Park & Preserve via xplore.org/fat-bear-week.

Q: Do events like Fat Bear Week contribute to making science accessible and interesting to non-scientists — the way Western students do so incredibly in The Planet?

A: We often underestimate the power of fun.

You’re almost always going to perform better at things you enjoy, since if you enjoy something, you’ll keep showing up, and if you keep showing up, you’ll generally improve your understanding, awareness and abilities. This is true about jobs, hobbies, and, yes, it’s true about science, too. I’d rather attend an engaging class taught by an enthusiastic and slightly-above-average scientist than a deadly boring class taught by a genius. And I’d rather be eaten by one of the fat bear contestants than attend a deadly boring class taught on a topic I’m not sure will hold my interest.

Most Americans who think they don’t like science would actually love science if communicators would meet them where they live, on topics they already know they’re interested in. This is why the good folks at NPS have been so savvy with Fat Bear Week: People love animals, especially majestic megafauna like bears; people are visual, so they love high-quality photography; and people love humor.  

Fat Bear Week is a successful example of science communication because it grabs the public’s interest with clever content that people already know they like. Some of those people will innately grasp that they’re learning while also marveling at images of Chunk 32. Science and journalism are both about, in Richard Feynman’s phrase, “the pleasure of finding things out.” Please note that “pleasure” is a part of that equation. It’s OK to have fun, and it’s OK that Fat Bear Week is fun, too.  

In fact, science verifies the value of fun. Every year we learn more about how creating states of play improves skill development. When I teach jiu-jitsu, I use these principles, and the lion’s share of the students don’t know that what we’re doing is science. It’s fine if they don’t: If they have fun, they come back. If they come back, they get better.

Remember how I said people love humor? Science verifies that, too. Even on a topic as important (and, candidly, frightening) as climate change, research shows that comedy can help people learn while engaging them. If jokes are your entry point into deeper understanding of the natural world, I say “bring on the whimsy.”

This is what Fat Bear Week does, and science communicators can learn from it. If we have fun while we’re learning from it, all the better.

The Planet is a student-run quarterly environmental publication dedicated to environmental advocacy and awareness through responsible journalism. The magazine has been independently produced by Western Washington University students since 1979. Last year The Planet won best ongoing student magazine in the country from the Society of Professional Journalists. 

Follow The Planet magazine on Instagram, read it online, and look for the print anthology near the end of spring quarter.

Jennifer Nerad covers Western's College of the Environment and College of Business and Economics for the Office of University Communications. Have a great story idea? Reach out to her at neradj@wwu.edu.