A large sea urchin called Backpack has gobbled up a challenge from an oversized female nicknamed the Dancing Queen to waltz – or rather waddle – with the title of Fat Bear Week in Alaska’s Katmai National Park.
Backpack, a quiet 20-year-old giant known for sitting alone for long periods on his rock beside the Brooks River, won by just 5,000 votes in the public tournament celebrating the ability of brown bears to eat so much fish, Alaska rangers said.
More than 2.3 million online votes were cast this year, and more than 200,000 in the final round alone. The contest has become a popular annual tradition drawing attention to the park’s population of nearly 2,000 bears who gorge on wild salmon to fatten up before their winter hibernation.
Backpack’s triumph comes seven years after her mother Holly, better known to fans as the Queen of Corpulence, took the crown in a landslide in the fifth year of the competition.
Holly was poised to win again in 2022 until it was discovered that the virtual ballot boxes, much like the bears themselves, had been (dishonestly) stuffed.
Despite this election fraud scandal, public participation increases each year in the tournament which pits 16 of the park’s biggest Bruins against each other in a single-elimination match.
After Backpack’s victory was confirmed on Tuesday, the US Department of the Interior posted on X its congratulations to the new “Lord of Lard, Earl of the Circumference”.
According to Sarah Bruce, a Katmai park ranger, Backpack, whose official name is Bear 89 and weighs about 1,200 pounds (544 kg), enjoyed a large loyal fan base to become the champion.
“This is one of the bears we’ve been able to see on live cameras since the live cameras were installed in 2012,” Bruce told Alaska Public Media.
“He’s a familiar bear. People have watched him his whole life.”
She said Backpack commonly fished for salmon and contemplated life on his favorite rock in the river. He also overcame challenges, she said, including a serious leg injury in 2007.
The runner-up, Bear 910, does not have an official name like Backpack, but is known to fans as the Dancing Queen because of the way she moves her head while fishing. Her mother is also a former winner.
Bruce said the ultimate proof of success was the weight the contestants managed to put on over the summer months, as seen in their before and after photographs.
“They have already won in the sense that they are prepared to survive another winter hibernation,” she said. “They get all the love.”
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