New Fat Bear Week children's book turns Katmai's famous bears into wrestlers

A new children’s book, “Big Fat Bear Battle!,” is putting Katmai National Park and Preserve’s brown bears into the ring ahead of Fat Bear Week. Scheduled to take place soon as the bears gorge on salmon before winter, the book was written by Alaskan author Brooke Hartman and illustrated by Can Tugrul. It follows reporters Goldie Fox and Moose McMahon covering a competition staged like a wrestling tournament between Alaska’s biggest brown bears. Hartman, who has visited Katmai for more than 20 years and has a cabin in King Salmon, spoke with Popular Science about the bears’ behavior near Brooks Falls, including the way they feed mainly on bellies and brains, leaving carcasses that dot the river.