A hefty brown bear officially known as 89 Backpack has been crowned the champion of this year's Fat Bear Week, an annual competition hosted by Katmai National Park in Alaska that celebrates the impressive weight gain of the park's grizzly population as they prepare for winter hibernation. The victory caps a fiercely contested tournament that drew hundreds of thousands of votes from wildlife enthusiasts around the globe.
Backpack secured the title by narrowly defeating a rival identified simply as 910, a female bear who mounted a spirited campaign of her own. In the final round of voting, Backpack collected 103,344 votes, while 910 finished with 98,253, a margin that reflected just how tight the contest had become by its closing hours.
The competition, now in its thirteenth year, pits bear against bear in a bracket-style elimination tournament, with members of the public casting votes online for the animal they believe has packed on the most impressive pre-hibernation pounds. The US National Parks Service framed the contest as a "battle of size, skill, snack acquisition, and strategic loafing," a playful description that captures both the serious biology behind the event and the lighthearted spirit that has made it a viral phenomenon.
Organisers extended their thanks to the sixteen bears who, in their words, "involuntarily participated" in the competition, a humorous acknowledgement that the animals themselves have no awareness of their celebrity status or the thousands of people debating their physical dimensions online.
Backpack's path to victory was bolstered by a devoted fan base that celebrated both his considerable girth and his personality. One supporter praised him for possessing what was described as both the "chonk and the badonk," while another simply called him a "big fuzzy boy." The bear's physique even drew comparisons to a light bulb, though his name actually has a different origin entirely.
Rather than deriving from his shape, Backpack's moniker traces back to his days as a cub, when he developed a habit of clambering onto his mother's back as she waded through the salmon-rich waters of the Brooks River. That mother, a bear named Holly, was herself the winner of Fat Bear Week in 2019, making Backpack's triumph something of a family legacy at the park.
Not everyone was convinced that Backpack deserved the crown, however. Supporters of the runner-up, 910, argued passionately that she had earned the title through her own remarkable story. The female bear raised both her biological cub and an adopted niece, a feat that her fans said demonstrated a different kind of strength and endurance.
One detractor acknowledged that 910 was a "larger bear all around," adding that Backpack merely had "a bigger booty." Another supporter wrote on the park's Facebook page that 910 had truly "put in the work this year," while a third voter summed up the sentiment with the declaration that "she round, she thick, my girl 910 got my vote."
The final weights of the two competitors have not yet been released, leaving the public to speculate about the exact numbers behind the contest. What is known is that adult male brown bears in the region can average up to 408 kilograms by mid-summer, and frequently add the equivalent of roughly a quarter of their body weight by the time autumn arrives. The very largest males have been recorded at more than 540 kilograms, while females, though generally smaller, can still exceed 300 kilograms. A newborn cub, by contrast, weighs only about half a kilogram.
The stakes behind these numbers are far more serious than any online popularity contest. According to organisers, bears do not eat or drink at all during hibernation, a period that can stretch for up to six months, and they lose approximately one-third of their body weight during that time. Their survival through the winter depends entirely on how much fat they manage to accumulate before retreating into their dens.
To reach that critical threshold, the bears of Katmai embark on an intensive feeding frenzy that begins in June and continues until mid-October. During this window, they gorge themselves on abundant food sources, most notably the salmon they snatch from the water using their jaws or their powerful paws. The Brooks River, where Backpack learned to ride on his mother's back, serves as one of the most productive fishing grounds in the park.
Backpack's official biography notes that his "quiet toughness has allowed him to find his niche alongside the biggest bears at Brooks River," a description that suggests his success is as much about character as it is about sheer mass.
Fat Bear Week has grown well beyond a local curiosity since its founding more than a decade ago. Last year, the competition attracted over 1.7 million votes cast from more than 100 countries, transforming a celebration of Alaskan wildlife into a global internet event. The contest has become an effective tool for public engagement with conservation, drawing attention to the ecology of Katmai National Park and the remarkable adaptations that allow brown bears to survive the harsh northern winter.
For now, Backpack will shortly begin his long hibernation, retreating into a den to sleep through the coldest months. When he emerges in the spring, he will likely have shed a substantial portion of the weight that earned him this year's title, and the cycle of feasting and fasting will begin anew, with the next generation of contenders already growing in the rivers of Katmai.
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