Gentle giant Backpack declared winner of Alaska's Fat Bear Week

The useful part

After a week of fierce competition, Backpack emerged victorious as Fat Bear Week champion, the heftiest bear of Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve. The nonprofit running the longstanding contest announced that the bear, known for his pacifist nature, was the winner Tuesday with more than 100,000 votes, giving him a close win over Bear 910 with just over 50% of the poll. Fat Bear Week was started in 2014 as an interactive way to inform the public about brown bears, the coastal cousins of grizzlies.

How it works

• The public could watch the bears on explore.org's livestream cameras before deciding on their favorite.
• Last year's winner, Chunk — known officially as Bear 32 — clinched his victory at an estimated 1,200 pounds.
• He was handily defeated in the first round of competition this year by Bucky, who went on to lose a faceoff against Backpack, known officially as Bear 89.
• The event this year featured 16 bears vying for the heavyweight title in a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament.
• All voting is done online, and the winner was declared Tuesday evening after the final poll closed.

Details worth keeping

"Fat bears are successful bears," the nonprofit says on its website.