The title of undisputed king of the wild this year belongs to Backpack, the specimen also known by the identification code 89 who won the Fat Bear Week 2026. This online competition, created to celebrate the most impressive brown bear in Katmai National Park in Alaska, ended after a heart-pounding final along the famous Brooks River. The winning bear obtained 103,334 votes, narrowly beating his opponent identified as bear 910, who was stuck at 98,253 votes.
The tournament is developed through a series of direct elimination challenges played from 22 to 29 September on the official website of the event. Millions of users connect from all over the world to follow the spectacular images transmitted by bear cams and vote for their favorite bear cam. What on the surface may seem like a nice web competition is based on rigorous ecological monitoring conceived by the park rangers as early as 2014, designed to show the extraordinary physical transformation of the animals between the summer and autumn seasons.
Backpack’s extraordinary story: from wounded puppy to champion
Behind the winner’s imposing bulk lies a story of resilience and survival that began many years ago. First spotted in 2008 when he was about two and a half years old, Backpack bore signs of a serious leg wound that at the time had National Park Service biologists fearing the worst. Due to its limited mobility, the specimen’s mother – the famous female Holly, winner of the tournament in 2019 – used to carry it on her back during river crossings, a tender habit that earned the little one the unusual nickname of “backpack”.
During his growth, the young bear had to independently overcome another serious injury to his paw without any human intervention, transforming over time into a regular and peaceful visitor to the Brooks River. Today the champion is a recognized icon of the park, capable of waiting immobile and patient on his favorite rock for the arrival of schools of fish, demonstrating an uncommon temperament that has won the hearts of popular judges from all over the world.
The hard struggle for survival and the hyperphagia phase
For the brown bears that populate the protected areas of Alaska, accumulating weight is not an aesthetic whim, but a true biological necessity linked to survival. During the summer months, the animals enter a phase known as hyperphagia, a period of insatiable hunger in which they consume enormous quantities of food, focusing mainly on the salmon that swim up river currents to reproduce. Thanks to this energy-rich diet, adult males can easily exceed 500 kilos in weight before the arrival of the cold season.
This incredible accumulation of adipose tissue serves to prepare the body for the long hibernation phase, during which the body drastically slows down its heart rate and metabolism to survive up to 5 months of deep sleep without taking any food. Fat Bear Week thus combines digital entertainment with scientific dissemination, transforming itself into an unmissable event to understand the most authentic cycles of nature.
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