A Big Bear Wins a Winter Survival Contest

A brown bear named 89 Backpack has won Fat Bear Week 2026, according to BBC Newsround. The yearly contest is run by Katmai National Park in Alaska. People vote for the bear they think has gained the most weight before winter.

Backpack got 103,344 votes. That was more than 5,000 votes ahead of Bear 910, who came in second. More than 2.5 million votes were cast this year. Last year, the contest had 1.7 million votes.

The contest sounds funny, but the bear fat is serious. Brown bears at Katmai eat a lot from June to mid October. They catch salmon with their jaws or paws in Brooks River. Salmon are fish that swim from the ocean into rivers to lay eggs.

The bears are getting ready for hibernation. Hibernation is a deep winter rest. During that time, bears do not eat or drink. They can lose one-third of their body weight while they stay in their dens.

That means a bigger body can help a bear survive. Adult male brown bears often add about one-fourth more body weight by autumn. The biggest males can weigh more than 540 kilograms. That is about as heavy as a grand piano.

Backpack is a male brown bear. He got his name when he was a cub. He liked to climb onto his mother Holly’s back as she crossed Brooks River. Holly also won Fat Bear Week in 2019.

To be at Katmai in late summer would mean watching hungry bears work for food. A bear might stand in rushing water. It might wait for a salmon to leap close enough. Then it would snap or swipe. Each fish could help build the fat needed for winter.

The contest also shows how people can watch wild animals from a distance. The bears did not choose to join. Park workers use the contest to teach people about bear life and winter survival.

Some voters thought Bear 910 should have won. They believed she had worked hard and looked larger overall. That debate is part of the fun. It also reminds us that judging animals by photos is not the same as measuring them.

Fat Bear Week is silly on purpose. But behind the jokes is a real science lesson. In nature, being fat at the right time can be healthy. For these bears, autumn weight is winter safety.