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Meet Backpack, Fat Bear Week’s chunky champ
Alaska Public Media • • nation
Key Points:
- Backpack, also known as Bear 89, was crowned the 2026 Fat Bear Week champion after receiving over 2.3 million votes worldwide, narrowly beating Bear 910 by about 5,000 votes.
- Backpack is a 20-year-old brown bear from Katmai National Park, known for hitching rides on his mother Holly's back as a cub, with Holly having previously won Fat Bear Week in 2019.
- Weighing an estimated 1,000 to 1,200 pounds, Backpack is recognized for his stoic nature, minimal wounds indicating low aggression, and a signature behavior of sitting on a rock in Brooks River while fishing.
- The competition included 16 bears, including bear families, with Bear 910—nicknamed the “Dancing Queen” and known for her adaptability and family care—finishing as runner-up.
- Fat Bear Week celebrates the bears' ability to gain significant weight from salmon runs to survive winter hibernation, with all participants regarded as winners for their survival success.
