Alaska: Brown bear 89 Backpack has been crowned the winner of the annual Fat Bear Week competition at Katmai National Park in Alaska, narrowly defeating Bear 910 in a public vote celebrating the bears’ impressive preparation for winter hibernation.
Backpack secured 103,344 votes in the final round, while Bear 910 received 98,253 votes. The competition, now in its 13th year, is organised by Katmai National Park and highlights the bears’ size, feeding success and survival strategies as they build up vital fat reserves before winter.
The US National Park Service thanked the 16 bears who ‘involuntarily participated’ in this year’s competition. Backpack attracted plenty of support from voters, with one fan describing him as having both the ‘chonk and the badonk’, while another called him a ‘big fuzzy boy’.
Backpack’s name has a more personal origin. As a cub, he would climb onto his mother Holly’s back while she moved through the salmon-filled Brooks River. Holly herself won Fat Bear Week in 2019, making Backpack the latest member of his family to claim the title.
Bear 910 also attracted strong support during the competition. The female bear has raised both her biological cub and an adopted niece, with supporters praising her efforts and arguing that she had shown exceptional growth during the season.
The bears spend the summer and early autumn feeding heavily on salmon and other available food in preparation for hibernation. Adult male brown bears can reach weights of more than 540kg, while females can exceed 300kg. During hibernation, bears can go for months without eating or drinking and may lose around one-third of their body weight.
Fat Bear Week has gained an international following, with more than 1.7 million votes recorded from over 100 countries last year. Backpack will now enter hibernation, which can last for up to six months, after securing this year’s title.
MOST READ | South Africa launches safety audit after 12 women found dead
