Knut

Monday, November 19, 2007

Winter is slowly arriving in Berlin - the last few days have seen the odd flurry of snow (quite unusual for November), and some of it has settled in Knut's enclosure. Click here for pictures.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Knut, the most famous polar bear ever, will be starring in his own film: Potsdam based producers Dokfilm have received €40,000 to make a "docufiction" film about the life and times of the once unbearably cute Knut. The film should be in German cinemas by the end of 2007.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Knut's recovering from his recent injury well, but it looks like he's worked out who was responsible for the injection which knocked him out for x-raying: the moment he saw zoo vet Andreas Ochs he went into a rage, showing the less playful side of the 80kg polar bear. No-one was injured - Knut is now so big that no zoo staff are safe in his enclosure. Even his "foster daddy" Thomas Dörflein now has to feed Knut from the public's side of the cage.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

It's a hard life being the world's most-loved polar bear, and the strain - or rather the sprain - is showing. Knut (now 8kg) appears to have injured his left leg, but after being sedated and x-rayed vets have made certain that no bones are broken. Nevertheless Knut has been given a few days off to recover and is being kept inside, but can go out at any time if he wants to.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Knut is slowly being weaned off his baby food: in the early days he was fed a mixture of milk and dog / cat food, now he's eating a mush of milk, meat, cod-liver oil and vitamins. The Zoo has now announced that he'll be getting more raw meat and fish over the next couple of months, by which time his diet will be the normal polar bear adult diet.

Knut now weighs in at about 65kg (I don't know how much that is in pounds, but it's about 10kg than I myself weigh).

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

It had to happen some time: Knut is getting bigger by the day, and Berlin's Zoo has decided it's time for him to get used to life without humans. Since Sunday he's in his enclosure on his own, and the daily "show" with keeper Thomas Doerflein has ended. It came as a bit of a shock for Knut too: he spent much of the time searching the enclosure for signs of human life, but eventually gave up and dived into the water.

Fans of cute baby bears shouldn't be discouraged though: next door you can see Malaysian bear "Ernst", who's just half the size of Knut.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

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The latest item of Knut paraphanelia has just been announced: now you can buy an official Knut Medal, produced by the State Berlin Mint (Staatliche Münze Berlin). It features an image of Knut when he was about three months old on the front (with a small logo saying "Respect Habitats. Knut", and the German State's heraldic eagle bearing the coats of arms of the 16 German federal states on the back.

The medal costs €10, of some of which goes directly to the Berlin Zoo. Unfortunately it only seems to be available directly from the Mint's own shops in Germany.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Visitors to the Zoo yesterday were disappointed - halfway through his afternoon "performance", it became apparent Knut wasn't feeling very well, so his keepers removed him for further investigation. It looks his first adult tooth is coming through, which is causing him some pain, but otherwise Knut is in good health. It's not yet known whether Knut will be "on display" today (Wednesday).

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Latest baby polar bear news: due to the enormous number of visitors who want to see Knut, the Zoo has restricted viewing time to just seven minutes per person.

For an alternative view on Knut, check out YouKnut.com - an alternative Knut fan site. It's in German, but mainly pictures - don't take them all too seriously, everybody loves Knut really.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Knut mania continues: not only can you buy your very own Knut (courtesy of Steiff) but thanks to Gummibär specialists Haribo you can also eat him too. They're bringing out their own range of sugar puff baby polar bears - a handy between-meals sugary pick-me-up. The new product will be available in stores from around the middle of April, and Haribo will be donating 10¢ from every box sold to the Berlin Zoo for the real Knut.

(By the way if you think it's cruel to eat Knut, just think about what cute darling creatures real polar bears in the wild eat ;-).