AssetID: 56068416
Headline: 'Quiet but determined' beast Backpack wins Alaska's Fat Bear Week contest
Caption: **VIDEO AVAILABLE: CONTACT INFO@COVERMG.COM TO RECEIVE** BY MARK WORGAN A male brown bear nicknamed ‘Backpack’ has been crowned the winner of Alaska’s 2026 Fat Bear Week competition at Katmai National Park and Preserve. Backpack, officially known as Bear 89, beat female bear 910 in the final, receiving 103,344 votes compared with 98,253 for his rival - a winning margin of just over 5,000 votes. The annual competition celebrates brown bears as they build up fat reserves ahead of winter hibernation. Backpack is an adult male who survived an injury in 2007. His profile describes him as having a "quiet toughness". “Unlike many large adult male bears, Backpack hasn’t shown much aggression toward his competitors,” his competition bio read. “He’ll stand up for himself when necessary, but he prefers to use a quiet strength to gain access to preferred fishing spots.” Announcing the winner, Katmai representatives said: “Backpack came out on top in a year filled with tough competition and some of the most exciting matchups we’ve seen. His skinny-to-fat transformation captured lots of attention, and if you’ve followed his story over the years, you know he’s earned his place at the top.” They added: “Backpack’s story is one of persistence. Season after season, he returns to Brooks River, finds his place, and gets to work. This year, that persistence carried him all the way to the championship. “Now, this understated bear has solidified his place in Fat Bear Week history. It’s been part of Backpack’s story from the beginning, and this year, it brought him all the way to the championship.” Backpack’s name comes from his younger years, when he was frequently seen clinging to his mother Holly's back as she swam across a river. Backpack and his mum are now generational champions, as Holly has also previously won Fat Bear Week. This year's competition featured the largest field in its 12-year history. The contest included bears whose parents had previously won the competition, as well as newcomers. For the first time, families of bears were also eligible to take part. The organisers discontinued the separate Fat Bear Junior competition for cubs to make room for the new family category. The competition is based around the annual salmon run at Brooks Falls, where brown bears feed before winter. Viewers can watch the bears through a live online stream before comparing photographs taken at the beginning and end of the feeding season. They then vote in a knockout-style tournament to decide which bear they consider the fattest. Backpack's route to the final was a close run thing. He advanced from his semi-final by by just 4,100 votes, far fewer than his rival, 910, who won her semi-final by more than 70,000 votes, meaning Backpack’s win was something of an upset. The losing finalist is the daughter of 409 Beadnose, a previous Fat Bear Week champion. She also defeated her sister, 909, earlier in this year's competition. But it was Backpack who ultimately secured the title, winning the final with more than 103,000 votes.
Keywords: feature,photo,video,bear,fat bear week,animals,nature,natural world,backpack
PersonInImage: Backpack fishing.