Bear 89 Backpack wins Alaska’s Fat Bear Week — ABC News Australia

At Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, United States, a large male brown bear nicknamed 89 Backpack won the annual online Fat Bear Week vote. In the final, he received about 103,000 votes, beating bear No. 910, which received approximately 98,000 votes.

The voting final

Fat Bear Week is an annual vote for Katmai’s brown bears, which build up fat reserves in autumn before winter hibernation. Participants compete in an elimination format, and users are invited to choose the bear that they believe best embodies the size and success of brown bears.

As ABC News Australia reports, 89 Backpack is about 20 years old. He received his nickname because, as a cub, he used to climb onto his mother’s back while she swam across the river. His mother, a bear named Holly, won Fat Bear Week in 2019. The mother of the other finalist, 409 Beadnose, won the competition in 2015 and 2018.

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How bears prepare for winter

Organizers said Backpack’s calm resilience helped him earn his place alongside the largest bears on the Brooks River. As a cub, he suffered a leg injury and gained little weight that summer, leading people to doubt whether he would survive.

Cameras for livestreaming the bears’ lives in the park were installed in 2012. Interest in such material grew after one viewer posted a comparison on social media of photographs of a bear before and after gaining weight. Rangers later launched the week-long competition.

According to Katmai rangers, bears can eat more than 30 salmon a day, building up fat reserves for the winter hibernation period. This year, family groups of female bears with cubs also took part in the vote. Previously, a separate Fat Bear Week Junior tournament was held for young animals, but this time they competed with their mothers in the main part of the contest.