Only two remain. Fat Bear Week 2026 comes down to Bear #910 (unofficially known as Dancing Queen) and Bear #89 (Backpack). Which big head will wear the crown? Let’s meet the impressive final two, both of whom come from champion bloodlines.

Voting opens at 12pm EDT and ends at 9pm EDT (9am-6pm PDT, 8am-5pm AKDT). Read more about the bears battling today below and cast your vote at explore.org. The Fat Bear Week champion will be crowned tonight. May the beefiest bear win.

Bear #910 Big girl 910 transformed this summer. Images: T. Hunt and C. Loberg, explore.org

In one corner, we have a beefy queen with a signature move. While fishing in the Brooks Falls, Bear #910 can be seen flipping and tilting her head, a gesture that makes her easy to spot on the bear cams. The quirk earned her the unofficial nickname of Dancing Queen by fans.

910 is the daughter of a champion, so winning is in her blood. Her mother is Bear #409 (Beadnose), who took the Fat Bear Week title in both 2015 and 2018. 910 had to beat her sister, Bear #909, in Round 2 of voting to advance in this year’s competition. Hopefully there will be no hard feelings (note: they’re bears and don’t know Fat Bear Week is happening, so they’re fine) because the sisters have one of Fat Bear Week’s most interesting family dynamics.

In 2022, 910 blended her family with 909’s family and became the Brady Bunch of Katmai. In the process, she adopted her sister’s 2.5-year-old female yearling cub (a 1- to 2-year-old cub still with its mother), while she herself had a spring cub (a first-year cub that was born over the winter and emerges in the spring). Adoptions like these are exceptionally rare in the wild, and this blending of families is believed to be only the second such adoption at Katmai. 

Since separating from the cubs in 2025, the 10-year-old has taken a break from cub rearing and enjoyed the single life. She lives alone, fishing the falls at her leisure with her quirky moves. Her hefty size has attracted the attention of male adult bears, including Walker and Bucky Dent, who both appeared to be courting her in early summer, according to explore.org. We’ll have to wait until spring 2027 to see if she emerges with more cubs.

Bear #89 (Backpack) Backpack’s transformation this summer took him from scrawny to chonky. Images: C. Loberg, explore.org

In the other corner of this Fat Bear Week 2026 final, we find Backpack. Yes, Backpack, a truly great nickname he earned for his habit of riding his mother’s back through the Brooks River. That mother? Katmai legend and former Fat Bear Week champion, Bear #435 (Holly).

Bear #89 (Backpack) is 20.5 years old and one of Brooks Falls most consistent residents. His journey to adulthood was not an easy one. In 2007 as a yearling, he emerged in the spring with an intense leg injury that prevented him from walking properly and put him in danger. Rangers feared he might not survive the season. Bear cam fans even implored park staff to intervene, but with help from him mom (and no human intervention), he recovered and has grown to an impressive size. He exudes a quiet strength despite his imposing stature, and has not shown aggression towards his peers. He also prefers to hang out slightly downstream on his favorite rock, watching the world (and fish) go by.

Backpack made it to the finals in one of the closest votes in Fat Bear Week history. He defeated up-and-comer Bucky Dent by less than a percentage. But he’s a survivor, so his appearance in the final is not surprising to his fans.

So who has your vote? The Fat Bear Week 2026 finals voting opens at 12pm EDT and ends at 9pm EDT (9am-6pm PDT, 8am-5pm AKDT) at explore.org.

The post Fat Bear Week final: It’s Bear #910 vs. Backpack appeared first on Popular Science.