The 2026 edition of Fat Bear Week has come to a close.
Since 2014, the Katmai National Park and Reserve in Alaska has held the annual online tournament to raise awareness for conservation efforts and drive livestream viewership to trail cameras placed throughout the national park.
In the competition, which the Associated Press hailed as “Alaska’s most-watched popularity contest,” 16 of the park’s biggest brown bears compete in a single-elimination, March Madness-style bracket.
The most popular bears advance each week, until the “chunkiest” competitor is crowned.
On September 30, a bear named “Backpack” won the final poll with more than 100,000 votes, narrowly beating out the second-place competitor, Bear 910.
“He’s one of the bears that we’ve been able to watch on the live cams since the live cams were put in in 2012,” Katmai Park ranger Sarah Bruce told Alaska Public Media. “He’s a familiar bear. People have watched him his whole life.”
According to Bruce, Backpack got his nickname because he used to clamber onto his mother’s back as a young cub when they swam together in the park’s Brooks River.
Bruce estimates that Backpack, now roughly 20 years old, is between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds. He is known for his gentle demeanor and “quiet toughness.”
“He’s more of a stoic presence on the river,” Bruce said. “He doesn't really get into drama or cause any upset in the hierarchy. He holds his own very quietly.”
Backpack still frequents the same stream he once explored with his mother, often returning to the same large rock in the middle of Brooks River to catch salmon.
“Some of the fans will call [it] Backpack or 89’s rock,” Bruce said. “That’s not an uncommon behavior on the river — sometimes the bears will sit on various rocks and look for fish that way.”
To celebrate the tournament’s conclusion, Google added an interactive surprise for users who searched for “Fat Bear Week.”
Upon Googling the search term, a small brown bear pops up on the screen. Users can then “feed” the bear by clicking a salmon button and see him grow on screen as he fattens up for winter.
When it comes to “winning” the competition, Bruce said all the competitors are winners at the end of the day.
“They have already won in the fact that they are set to survive another winter hibernation,” she said. “They win all of the love.”
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Featured Image: Screenshot via Google
