Alaska’s iconic Fat Bear Week has crowned its latest champion: a brown bear known as 89 ‘Backpack’. After a close online vote, Backpack edged out rival bear 910 with 103,344 votes to 98,253, securing the title in the park’s thirteenth annual contest.
What is Fat Bear Week?
Fat Bear Week is a public‑voted competition organized by Katmai National Park in Alaska. Each summer, the park tracks the weight gain of its resident brown bears as they gorge on salmon and other foods to build fat reserves for the upcoming hibernation season. The competition runs from June through mid‑October, and voters from around the world cast ballots for the bear they think has bulked up the most.
The 2023 Winner: Backpack
Backpack, a male brown bear identified by the tag number 89, was described by park officials as having “both the chonk and the badonk”. His nickname derives from a childhood habit of climbing onto his mother Holly’s back while she foraged in the Brooks River. Holly herself was the 2019 Fat Bear Week champion, making Backpack a second‑generation winner.
Backpack’s victory was narrow; he won by just over 5,000 votes. The final round pitted him against bear 910, a female noted for raising both her own cub and an adopted niece. Supporters of 910 argued that she was the larger bear overall, but Backpack’s larger “booty” ultimately swayed the vote.
Voting and Public Engagement
The competition attracted more than 1.7 million votes last year, with participants from over 100 countries. Voters cast their ballots on the park’s website and social‑media pages, often adding colorful commentary about the bears’ appearance and personalities. The National Parks Service thanked the 16 bears that “involuntarily participated” in the event, emphasizing that the contest is a light‑hearted way to raise awareness about bear ecology.
Ecological Context
Brown bears in Katmai typically weigh up to 408 kg in mid‑summer, adding roughly 25 % of their body weight by autumn. The largest males can exceed 540 kg, while females usually top out around 300 kg. Cubs are born at about half a kilogram. During hibernation, bears do not eat or drink and lose roughly one‑third of their body weight, making the summer fat‑building phase critical for survival.
From June until mid‑October, the bears feast on abundant salmon, which they catch with their jaws or paws. This high‑protein diet fuels the rapid weight gain that the competition tracks.
Uncertainty and Future Monitoring
While the final vote tallies are confirmed, the exact weights of the finalists have not yet been released by park officials. Consequently, the precise margin by which Backpack out‑weighed 910 remains unknown. Future updates from Katmai may provide those figures, offering a more detailed picture of how the bears compare physically.
Why the Contest Matters
Beyond its entertainment value, Fat Bear Week serves as an educational platform. By involving the public in the bears’ seasonal preparation, the park highlights the importance of healthy ecosystems that support salmon runs and, in turn, bear populations. The competition also underscores the challenges bears face as climate change and human activity alter food availability and hibernation patterns.
In short, Backpack’s win is both a celebration of a charismatic individual and a reminder of the broader ecological dynamics that sustain Alaska’s brown bears.