After a week of fierce competition, Backpack emerged victorious as Fat Bear Week Champion, the strongest bear in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve.
The nonprofit organization that runs the long-running contest announced Tuesday that the bear, known for its pacifist nature, won with more than 100,000 votes, narrowly beating Bear 910 with just over 50 percent of the vote.
The competition, now in its 12th year, celebrates the resilience of the 2,200 brown bears that live on the Alaska Peninsula Preserve, which stretches from the southwest of the state to the Aleutian Islands. Fat Bear Week was launched in 2014 as an interactive way to educate the public about brown bears, the coastal cousins of grizzly bears.
Last year’s winner, Chunk – known officially as Bear 32 – earned his victory at around 1,200 pounds. He was easily defeated in the first round of the competition this year by Bucky, who then lost a faceoff to Backpack, known officially as Bear 89.
This year’s event featured 16 Bears vying for the heavyweight title in a bracket-style single-elimination tournament. All voting is done online at www.fatbearweek.org, and the winner was declared Tuesday evening after the final poll closed. The public could watch the bears on explore.org’s live cameras before choosing their favorite.
“Big bears are successful bears,” the nonprofit says on its website. This group gorges on the abundant salmon that return to the Brooks River beginning in late June. This is where they can gorge themselves to build up the fat reserves they will need to get through the winter. To participate in the competition, bears must frequent the area around the river.
Backpack is the son of former Fat Bear Week champion Holly, who introduced him to the Brooks River as a freshman in 2006. His name was inspired by his habit of climbing on his mother’s back when they swam in the river. This year’s fans applauded Backpack in the contest’s Instagram comments, highlighting his lineage and reputation as a gentle giant.
“Unlike many large adult male bears, Backpack has not shown much aggression towards his competitors,” his competitor profile reads.
Backpack uses his “quiet strength” rather than fighting and is often seen in wildlife cams sitting on a rock downstream, appearing to admire the scenery around him.
He beat Bear 910, who is also the daughter of a former champion: 409 Beadnose.
Adult male brown bears typically weigh between 600 and 900 pounds in mid-summer. By the time they are ready to hibernate after feasting on migrating and spawning salmon, large males can weigh well over 1,000 pounds. Females are about a third smaller. The bears can each eat up to 30 fish a day at this time of year, working hard to eat a year’s worth of food in about six months.
During winter hibernation, bears do not eat or drink and can lose a third of their body weight.
Fat Bear Week participants also included five bear families, in recognition of the record number of families and cubs at the river this summer. A mother must feed and protect her young while eating enough calories to survive during hibernation. Cubs are often at risk of being attacked by other bears due to their territorialism or lack of food.
Bear 132 and her three spring cubs advanced to the semi-finals but lost to Bear 910.
Bear 132 has become one of the largest and most experienced mother bears in Brooks River, according to her candidate profile. In mid-July, one of her cubs became separated from the family for several days, wandering alone in the river corridor. They were reunited a few days later.
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