'Backpack' declared Alaska's Fat Bear Week winner

What the report says

A brown bear known as 89 Backpack has won Alaska’s annual Fat Bear Week contest, defeating a bear identified as 910 in the final round, BBC World News reported. The competition is run by Katmai National Park in Alaska and is meant to highlight how bears build up weight before hibernation.

According to the BBC, Backpack received 103,344 votes, compared with 98,253 for 910. The National Parks Service described the event as a contest of size, skill, food gathering and careful resting, and thanked the 16 bears that took part. Backpack will soon enter hibernation, which can last up to six months.

The BBC said Backpack is the son of Holly, who won the contest in 2019. His name comes from the way he climbed onto his mother’s back as a cub while she crossed the Brooks River. The article also noted that adult brown bears can gain significant weight before winter, because they rely on fat reserves to survive months in their den without eating or drinking.

The annual vote has become a popular online wildlife event and, in past years, has drawn international attention. This year’s result again shows how the park uses the contest to draw interest to bear behavior and the seasonal pressures of life in Katmai.