Backpack, a brown bear at Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve, was crowned the 2026 Fat Bear Week champion after receiving more than 103,000 votes.

He narrowly defeated Bear 910 in the final round, with the two bears separated by only about 5,000 votes. 

The annual contest celebrates bears’ preparation for winter by gaining as much weight as possible before hibernation.

Backpack is known for his unusually calm behavior, with this year’s competition drawing more than 200,000 votes overall, NBC News has reported.

Katmai is home to roughly 2,200 brown bears, and the contest has become an annual celebration of the wildlife and ecosystem of the Alaska Peninsula.