In Alaska’s Katmai National Park, the annual Fat Bear Week contest has crowned its new champion: bear number 89 “Backpack”. The event, now in its eighth year and managed by Explore.org and the Alaskan National Park Service, features a bracket-style competition where fans vote for their favorite overfed bears. This year’s contest included 16 contenders, with Backpack defeating rival 910 (nicknamed "Dancing Queen") to claim victory. The event highlights the importance of weight gain among brown bears as they prepare for winter hibernation by feasting on salmon in Brooks River.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-02,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Backpack, a brown bear from Alaska's Katmai National Park & Preserve, was crowned the winner of this year’s Fat Bear Week with over 103,334 votes, narrowly beating out fellow contender 910 in a close contest. The event celebrates the resilience and survival skills of the park’s estimated 2,200 brown bears during their critical pre-hibernation feeding period. Now in its 12th year, Fat Bear Week began as an interactive way to educate the public about these coastal grizzly cousins but has since grown into a widely anticipated annual event. Backpack, known for his peaceful demeanor and quiet strength rather than aggression towards competitors, was celebrated by fans who watched live streams of the bears feasting on salmon before casting their votes.
Written for “Fat Bear Week_winner_Backpack” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 14 other(s) covering the same event.
The votes are in, and a new fat bear champion has been crowned in Alaska: 89 “Backpack”.
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champion → crown → Alaska
He earned his nickname by climbing on his mother’s back as a young cub 20 years ago, and won fans with his story of recovery after a leg injury in 2007.
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He → earn → 2007
According to his official biography on the Fat Bear Week site, he opts for a “quiet strength” instead of aggression when seeking prime spots for fish.
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he → accord → fish
“He’s a Lover, Not a Fighter!!” one fan wrote on the nature-cam network Explore.org, which puts on the contest with the Alaskan National Park Service and Katmai Conservancy.
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which → ’ → Service
Backpack defeated 910, a female dubbed “Dancing Queen” by some fans in a contest that included a record 16 contenders, not counting some accompanying cubs.
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that → defeat → cubs
The competition has unfolded every year since its first iteration in 2014 at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, unbeknownst to the portly participants.
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competition → unfold → participants
No polling,” the National Park Service wrote in a Facebook post.
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Service → write → post
“Just bears doing what bears do best: eating, fishing, napping, more eating and getting gloriously chunky.”
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bears → do → eating
The brown bears aren’t feasting on the sockeye salmon in Brooks River just for fun; putting on the pounds is crucial for their survival as they prepare for hibernation later in the northern fall.
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they → feast → fall
“They’re all winners,” Sarah Bruce, a Katmai park ranger, said in an interview earlier on Tuesday (Washington time).
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Bruce → ’re → Tuesday
“They’re all set up to survive winter hibernation.”
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They → set → hibernation
Both 910 and Backpack had winning lineages: her mother was two-time winner 409 “Beadnose”, and his mother was 435 “Holly”, the 2019 victor.
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mother → have → lineages
The legacies are a testament to the bears’ habits, and to the histories that park officials have compiled over years of observation.
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officials → compile → observation
“As we move forward into the future, because the same bears return to the Brooks River every year and female bears raise their young on the Brooks River … we’re going to continue to see the generations kind of cycle through,” Bruce said.
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Bruce → move → River
Interest in the bracket-style tournament this year was so significant that early voting overwhelmed the system and forced an extension of the first round.
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voting → overwhelm → round
Bruce said the number of votes had surpassed last year’s total of 1.7 million, not just because there were more polls this time around.
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number → say → million
“We have more interest,” she said.
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she → have → interest
“That’s been mind-blowing ...
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That → blow → ?
It’s incomprehensible just how many more people are finding it each year and the love that it continues to get.
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it → ’ → that
Even Google got into the spirit, offering a bear animation for the “Fat Bear Week” search that allowed users to click on a salmon to feed a bear and bulk it up.
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users → get → it
On message boards, enthusiasts campaigned for their favourite finalists and highlighted assets such as “serious badonkadonk”, “thunder thighs” and “chonky bearness”.
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enthusiasts → campaign → badonkadonk
According to the National Park Service, adult males can weigh about 270 to 400 kilograms by mid-summer, but balloon to more than 450kg by October and November.
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males → accord → October
Weight estimates for some of this year’s participants ranged from 479kg to 578kg, but the winner isn’t chosen purely on flab.
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winner → range → flab
Fans often consider the bears’ backstories and develop a fondness for individual contestants they can watch on live cameras.
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they → consider → cameras
The competitors are focused on a higher calling.
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competitors → focus → calling
“The bears have no idea this is happening,” Bruce said.
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Bruce → have → idea
“They just want to get fat and survive winter.”
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They → want → winter
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world.
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what → get → world
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