Each post in this series will cover a sow and the independent children she has that still visit the Brooks River area. This means that all current cubs are excluded, until they are emancipated -- at which point i may go back and add them. I leave grandcubs out of these posts as much as possible, though i may include them in rare instances.
All family tree speculation is just speculation. Unless I mention DNA evidence, do not take anything here as hard-and-true fact. Bears are sometimes misidentified, especially in the period when they are moving from cub to subadult. These posts represent the best knowledge I have as of the time of writing.
435 Holly's Fan Wiki Page
official NPS photo from September 2019, taken by L. Carter
435 Holly is perhaps the most easily recognized bear that has ever graced the Katmai National Park Brown Bear Cams, on account of her extraordinarily light colored coat that darkens -- with the exception of her near-white ears -- to a "toasted marshmallow" color in fall. In 2019, she was crowned Fat Bear Week Champion, making her the first winner that was not 480 Otis or 409 Beadnose. The photo above was her official entry photo the year that she claimed the Fat Bear Week crown.
She is also a personal favorite bear of mine -- 2019 was my first ever Fat Bear Week, and her Giant Marshmallow Body is what made me fall in love with the competition, followed quickly by the live cams themselves. She is also part of what is, in my opinion, the most interesting and heartwarming story that has ever graced the Katmai bear cams. She has had 5 known litter of cubs, in 2006, 2009, 2014, 2017, and 2020 -- though it should be noted that her 2009 litter will not be included because her only cub that year did not survive.
In terms of her mothering style, she is essentially the opposite of 128 Grazer -- 435 Holly is nervous, caring, and does not bring her cubs to the falls. Instead, she will fish downstream, either in the riffles or the lower river. In fact, she will fish in the lower river even in July, when most other bears do not. She will even scavenge for scraps left by other bears, just to keep her cub(s) safe.
435 Holly's Mother: Unknown
435 Holly was first identified as a young sow or older female subadult in 2001, and her parentage is unknown -- even though she has had her DNA collected by rangers. Given that 435 Holly was likely between 4 and 6 years old when she was first identified, we can assume that she was roughly 26 to 28 years old when she was last seen in 2023. Brown bears at KNP&P generally live to their mid 20s, with 30 years old being a rough maximum. Given her age and the fact that we have not seen her since 2023, it is likely that 435 Holly has passed away.
Holly's first known litter had only one cub, a small male.
Official NPS photo from spring 2006, photographer unknown
While other spring cubs have been seen riding on their mother's backs, my understanding is that this cub was seen doing so by park rangers on multiple occasions, so they came to call him Backpack. In 2007, when he was a yearling, he injured his front right paw quite significantly -- he could not put much, if any, weight on it. Such an injury is often very hard for cubs, because it is their duty to keep with with their mother, not their mother's duty to follow them. Despite this, 435 Holly not only changed where and how she fished to make sure her injured cub was safe from other bears -- she also made sure to go at a pace that he could keep up with. The cub made it safely through the summer, and was fully healed and successfully emancipated in 2008, at 2.5 years old.
89 Backpack's Fan Wiki Page
explore.org capture by me, august 27 2024
89 Backpack is a pretty chill bear, even though he is 20 years old -- an age where many other boars would be much less tolerant of other bears' presence. He is even known to play with other bears occasionally, including 28E, who is more than a decade younger. As a young adult, he was frequent playmates with both 32 Chunk and 151 Walker, who are both currently highly dominant boars. Some cam viewers speculate that this past relationship with them may be part of the reason that both of those boars seem to tolerate 89 Backpack more than they do other bears, but this is of course just speculation -- we will never know for sure.
In spring 2014, 435 Holly returned to the Brooks Falls area with a spring cub in tow -- a small female.
Official NPS Photo, from the 2015 Bears of Brooks River ebook
This season began like any other season for 435 Holly and her spring cub: Holly fished in the lower river while her cub stayed nearby, and as it was July, most other bears were upriver -- either at the waterfall or just downstream of it in the riffles. But 435 Holly had a small cub to keep safe, so she stayed away from the commotion, and found her safety in the less-populated areas of Brooks River.
While 435 Holly and her spring cub were fishing in the lower river away from everyone else, something important was happening elsewhere: 402 had been separated from her yearling cub. The cub and 402 were both okay, to be clear, but they could not find each other for several days. They were briefly reunited, but it was too late. When sows lose their cubs for too long, their bodies put them into estrus, and when a sow is in estrus, she has to emancipate her cubs for their safety. The cub was then on his own at just 1.5 years old -- a year earlier than the vast majority of brown bears at KNP&P.
Many people were worried about newly-independent cub -- who was now officially Bear 503 "Cubadult" -- and his chances of survival. While it's not impossible for a 1.5 year old brown bear at Katmai to survive on their own, it isn't exactly likely either. KNP&P is in Alaska, where the summers are short and the winters are long. A 1.5 year old brown bear there is very, very vulnerable.
And then, 435 Holly, her spring cub, and 503 Cubadult became famous essentially overnight -- the three of them were spotted at the nearby Naknek Lake -- and they were traveling, eating, and playing together.
Dan Holmes, September 2014
People were cautiously hopeful, and soon they began to wonder if 435 Holly had, against all odds, adopted 503. It was unheard of -- literally, we had never before recorded this behavior in brown bears -- but maybe, just maybe, a miracle had occurred. And then, on September 17th, 2014, we got confirmation that yes, 503 Cubadult had, in fact, been adopted: because 435 Holly allowed both cubs to nurse from her, within view of one of the lower river cameras. 503 Cubadult stayed with 435 Holly and her daughter until 2016, when they were both successfully emancipated; Holly's biological cub, who was 2.5 years old, was assigned the number 719, while 503 Cubadult, who was 3.5 years old, kept the number he was assigned when he was first on his own.
719 Princess's Fan Wiki Page
Official NPS photo, from the Bears Of Brooks River 2022 ebook
719 is a small, stocky sow who looks much like her mother. After she was emancipated, she spent a lot of time with her adopted brother -- as is common for recently-emancipated siblings. As a subadult, she was very social, and seemed to find safety hanging out with other subadults -- and she even tried following another family! She has since had three cubs of her own, two males in 2019 and a female in 2022, all of whom were successfully emancipated.
503 Cubadult's Fan Wiki Page
Official NPS Photo, from the 2022 Bears of Brooks River ebook
503 Cubadult has grown up to be one of the largest boars in the Brooks River area. Though he has not been particularly dominant -- he is quite tolerant of other bears being near him -- he also doesn't generally yield space to other bears these days, even big dominant boars like 32 Chunk or 151 Walker. He's also a fishing machine; in 2024 he was observed high-grading at least 64 fish in just 1 hour and 45 minutes.
In 2017, 435 Holly returned with both a light and dark cub in tow, and they were suck a handful that many cam viewers called them "Holly's Terrible Twosome"! They were always playing, exploring, and just generally causing problems for others. What rascals!
explore.org capture from 2017 by olddude
The blonde cub -- bear 25 -- has not been meaningfully seen in a few years. But her darker sister 26 -- the only dark cub that the very-blonde 435 Holly ever had -- returned to the area in 2025 with two little spring cubs!
explore.org capture from september 2025, taken by me
26 is a dilligent and careful mother (though not as cautious as her mother was) which has come in handy with managing these two rambunctious cubs! In fact, her cubs play fight so much that they have earned the nicknames Wham and Bam from the explore.org chatters. It will be very exciting to see how all three of these bears continue to grow over the next few years!
in 2020, Holly had one cub -- a small, light-colored female.
Official NPS Photo from June 30th 2020, taken by Ranger Naomi Boak
All brown bears start their lives with dark fur and a white ring around their neck, known as a natal collar, which you can see fading in the photo above. But by the time mid-July rolled around, this cub's fur had lightened immensely, and she was nearly the same color as her mother! Over time, people began calling her "Holly's mini-me", and then eventually "Jolly"
This little girl was rambunctious, and she definitely kept her aging mother busy! Jolly was always playing with other cubs, even during her first summer, when most cubs stick close to their mothers. On at least one occasion, her antics led to her being charged by another mother bear who didn't want Jolly near her cubs. She was known to climb trees, seemingly just for fun, and one time when she was a yearling rangers were trying to get 435 Holly and her cub to leave the Brooks Camp area -- and while Holly politely left, Jolly hop-charged a ranger, even though she had porcupine quills in one of her paws!
335 Jolly's Fan Wiki Page
Official NPS Photo from September 14 2022, taken by Ranger Tammy
To say that 335 Jolly looks like 435 Holly did when she was her age would be an understatement. She is very blonde in the early summer, and darkens -- except her ears, which are nearly white -- to look like a toasted marshmallow in fall. She also fishes a lot in the lower river, just like her mom did. She's still young, so i'm very excited to see how she will grow as she ages...and to see if she will one day have a mini-me of her own!
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