Gentle giant Backpack wins Alaska’s Fat Bear Week

The contest, which is successful its 12th year, celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brownish bears that unrecorded successful the sphere connected the Alaska Peninsula.

After a week of fierce competition, Backpack emerged victorious arsenic Fat Bear Week champion, the heftiest carnivore successful Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve.

The nonprofit moving the longstanding contention announced connected Tuesday that the bear, known for his pacifist nature, was the victor with much than 100,000 votes, giving him a adjacent triumph implicit Bear 910 with conscionable implicit 50 percent of the poll.

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The contest, which is successful its 12th year, celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brownish bears that unrecorded successful the sphere connected the Alaska Peninsula, which extends from the state’s southwest country towards the Aleutian Islands. Fat Bear Week was started successful 2014 arsenic an interactive mode to pass the nationalist astir brownish bears, the coastal cousins of grizzlies.

Last year’s winner, Chunk — known officially arsenic Bear 32 — clinched his triumph astatine an estimated 1,200 pounds. He was handily defeated successful the archetypal circular of contention this twelvemonth by Bucky, who went connected to suffer a face-off against Backpack, known officially arsenic Bear 89.

This September 9, 2026 photograph provided by the National Park Service shows Bear 910 lasting on the Brooks River successful Katmai National Park and Preserve successful Alaska [C. Loberg/National Park Service via AP]

The lawsuit this twelvemonth featured 16 bears vying for the heavyweight rubric successful a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. All voting is done online, and the victor was declared connected Tuesday evening aft the last canvass closed. The nationalist could ticker the bears connected explore.org’s livestream cameras earlier deciding connected their favourite.

“Fat bears are palmy bears,” the nonprofit says connected its website. These bears gorge themselves connected the abundant salmon that instrumentality to the Brooks River starting successful precocious June. It is determination that they tin worldly themselves to accumulate the abdominous reserves they volition request to past the winter. To beryllium featured successful the contest, the bears indispensable predominant the country astir the river.

Son of ex-champion

Backpack is the lad of erstwhile Fat Bear Week champion Holly, who introduced him to the Brooks River erstwhile helium was a first-year cub successful 2006. His sanction was inspired by his wont of climbing onto his mother’s backmost erstwhile they swam the river. This year’s fans cheered connected Backpack successful the contest’s Instagram comments, noting his lineage and estimation arsenic a gentle giant.

“Unlike galore ample big antheral bears, Backpack hasn’t shown overmuch aggression toward his competitors,” his contestant illustration reads.

Backpack uses his “quiet strength” alternatively than brawling and is often seen successful wildlife cameras sitting connected a stone downstream, appearing to instrumentality successful the scenery astir him.

He defeated Bear 910, who is besides the girl of a erstwhile champion: 409 Beadnose.

Adult antheral brownish bears typically measurement betwixt 600 and 900 pounds (270-410kg) successful midsummer. By the clip they are acceptable to hibernate aft feasting connected migrating and spawning salmon, ample males tin measurement much than 1,000 pounds (454kg). Females are astir one-third smaller. Bears whitethorn each devour arsenic galore arsenic 30 food a time this clip of year, moving hard to devour a year’s worthy of nutrient successful astir six months.

During wintertime hibernation, bears bash not devour oregon portion and tin suffer one-third of their assemblage weight.

Fat Bear Week’s contestants besides included 5 carnivore families, successful designation of the record-high fig of families and cubs astatine the stream this summer. A parent indispensable provender and support her cubs portion besides eating capable calories to prolong herself done hibernation. Cubs often look the hazard of onslaught from different bears owed to territorialism oregon nutrient scarcity.

Bear 132 and her 3 outpouring cubs precocious to the semifinals, but mislaid retired to Bear 910.

She has go 1 of the largest and astir experienced parent bears astatine Brooks River, according to her contestant profile. In mid-July, 1 of her cubs became separated from the household for respective days, wandering the stream corridor alone. The cub was reunited with the household a fewer days later.