Knut (polar bear)
Encyclopedia
Polar Bear
The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size...
who was born in captivity
Captivity (animal)
Animals that live under human care are in captivity. Captivity can be used as a generalizing term to describe the keeping of either domesticated animals or wild animals. This may include for example farms, private homes and zoos...
at the Berlin Zoological Garden. Rejected by his mother at birth, he was raised by zookeepers. He was the first polar bear cub to survive past infancy at the Berlin Zoo in more than 30 years. At one time the subject of international controversy, he became a tourist attraction and commercial success. After the German tabloid newspaper Bild
Bild-Zeitung
The Bild is a German tabloid published by Axel Springer AG. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday, while on Sundays, Bild am Sonntag is published instead, which has a different style and its own editors...
ran a quote from an animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
activist
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
that decried keeping the cub in captivity, fans worldwide rallied in support of his being hand-raised by humans. Children protested outside the zoo, and e-mails and letters expressing sympathy for the cub's life were sent from around the world.
Knut became the center of a mass media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
phenomenon dubbed "Knutmania" that spanned the globe and spawned toys, media specials, DVDs, and books. Because of this, the cub was largely responsible for a significant increase in revenue, estimated at about five million euros, at the Berlin Zoo in 2007. Attendance figures for the year increased by an estimated 30 percent, making it the most profitable year in its 163-year history.
On 19 March 2011, Knut unexpectedly died at the age of four. His death was caused by drowning after he collapsed into his enclosure's pool while suffering from encephalitis
Encephalitis
Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain. Encephalitis with meningitis is known as meningoencephalitis. Symptoms include headache, fever, confusion, drowsiness, and fatigue...
.
Infancy
Tierpark Hellabrunn
Hellabrunn Zoo is a zoological garden in the Bavarian capital of Munich. The zoo is situated on the right bank of the river Isar, in the southern part of Munich near the quarter of Thalkirchen...
in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
. After an uncomplicated gestation
Gestation
Gestation is the carrying of an embryo or fetus inside a female viviparous animal. Mammals during pregnancy can have one or more gestations at the same time ....
, Knut and his unnamed brother were born on 5 December 2006. Tosca rejected her cubs for unknown reasons, abandoning them on a rock in the polar bear enclosure. Zookeepers rescued the cubs by scooping them out of the enclosure with an extended fishing net, but Knut's brother died of an infection four days later. Knut was the first polar bear to have been born and survive in the Berlin Zoo in over 30 years. Only the size of a guinea pig
Guinea pig
The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...
, he spent the first 44 days of his life in an incubator
Neonatal intensive care unit
A Neonatal Intensive Care Unit —also called a Special Care Nursery, newborn intensive care unit, intensive care nursery , and special care baby unit —is an intensive care unit specializing in the care of ill or premature newborn infants.The problem of premature and congenitally ill infants is not a...
before zookeeper Thomas Dörflein
Thomas Dörflein
Thomas Dörflein was a German zookeeper at the Berlin Zoological Garden for 26 years. After the polar bear cub Knut was abandoned by his mother shortly after his birth in 2006, Dörflein was assigned as the cub's caretaker...
began raising the cub.
Knut's need for round-the-clock care required that Dörflein not only sleep on a mattress next to Knut's sleeping crate at night, but also play with, bathe, and feed the cub daily. Knut's diet began with a bottle of baby formula mixed with cod liver oil every two hours, before graduating at the age of four months to a milk porridge mixed with cat food and vitamins. Dörflein also accompanied Knut on his twice-daily one-hour shows for the public and therefore appeared in many videos and photographs alongside the cub. As a result, Dörflein became a minor celebrity in Germany and was awarded Berlin's Medal of Merit in honour of his continuous care for the cub. Dörflein died of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
on 22 September 2008. He was 44 years old.
Controversy and media coverage
In early March 2007, German tabloid Bild-ZeitungBild-Zeitung
The Bild is a German tabloid published by Axel Springer AG. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday, while on Sundays, Bild am Sonntag is published instead, which has a different style and its own editors...
carried a quote by animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
activist Frank Albrecht who said that Knut should have been killed rather than be raised by humans. He declared that the zoo was violating animal protection legislation by keeping him alive. Wolfram Graf-Rudolf, the director of the Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
Zoo, agreed with Albrecht and stated that the zookeepers "should have had the courage to let the bear die" after it was rejected, arguing that the bear will "die a little" every time it is separated from its caretaker. A group of children protested at the zoo, holding up placards reading "Knut Must Live" and "We Love Knut", and others sent numerous emails and letters asking for the cub's life to be spared. Threatening letters were also sent to Albrecht. The Berlin Zoo rallied in support of the baby polar bear, vowing not to harm him and rejecting the suggestion that it would be kinder to euthanise him.
Albrecht stated his original aim was to draw attention to the law, not to have Knut put down. In December 2006 he had taken legal action against Leipzig Zoo
Leipzig Zoological Garden
The Leipzig Zoological Garden, or the Leipzig Zoo, was opened in Leipzig, Germany on June 9, 1878. It was taken over by the city of Leipzig in 1920 after World War I and now covers about 225,000 m² and contains more than 2,000 animals of 500 different species. The zoo is internationally noted for...
to prevent them from killing a sloth bear
Sloth Bear
The sloth bear , also known as the labiated bear, is a nocturnal insectivorous species of bear found wild within the Indian subcontinent. The sloth bear evolved from ancestral brown bears during the Pleistocene and shares features found in insect-eating mammals through convergent evolution...
cub rejected by its mother. His case was dismissed on the grounds that humans raising the animal would have been against the law of nature. In response to the criticism against him, Albrecht said that he was merely drawing parallels between the two cubs. The publicity from this coverage raised Knut's profile from national to international.
Debut and first year
On 23 March 2007, Knut was presented to the public for the first time. Around 400 journalistJournalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
s visited the Berlin Zoo on what was dubbed "Knut Day" to report on the cub's first public appearance to a worldwide audience. Because Knut became the focus of worldwide media at a very young age, many stories and false alarms regarding the cub's health and well-being were circulated during his first year. For example, on 16 April 2007, Knut was removed from display due to teething
Teething
Teething is the process by which an infant's first teeth sequentially appear by emerging through the gums. Teething may start as early as three months or as late, in some cases, as twelve months. The typical time frame for the first teeth to appear is somewhere between six and nine months...
pains resulting from the growth of his right upper canine tooth
Canine tooth
In mammalian oral anatomy, the canine teeth, also called cuspids, dogteeth, fangs, or eye teeth, are relatively long, pointed teeth...
, but initial reports vaguely stated that he was suffering from an unknown illness and subsequently put on antibiotics. Much ado was also made about a death threat that was sent shortly before 15:00 local time on Wednesday 18 April 2007. The zoo had received an anonymous letter by fax which said "Knut ist tot! Donnerstag Mittag." ("Knut is dead! Thursday noon.") In response, the police increased their security measures around the bear. The time frame for the threat passed without incident or harm to Knut.
Despite Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. It is one of Europe's largest publications of its kind, with a weekly circulation of more than one million.-Overview:...
reporting on 30 April 2007 that Knut was "steadily getting less cute" as he increased in age, Knut continued to bring in record crowds to the zoo that summer. After reaching seven months old and 50 kg (110 lb) in July 2007, Knut's scheduled twice daily public appearances were canceled due to the zoo's concern for the safety of his keeper. Zoo spokeswoman Regine Damm also said it was time for the bear to "associate with other bears and not with other people." After living in the same enclosure as Ernst, a Malaysian black bear cub who was born a month before Knut, and its mother, Knut was then moved to his own private living space. While visitor numbers dwindled from extreme highs in March and April, Knut remained a major attraction at the zoo for the rest of 2007. 400,000 guests were recorded in August 2007, which was an all time high.
News of Knut and his life at the zoo was still being reported internationally in late 2007. Knut's restricted diet, necessary to curtail his natural weight gain necessary to survive harsh winters, made headlines outside of Germany. His daily meals were reduced in number from four to three, and treats, such as croissant
Croissant
A croissant is a buttery flaky pastry named for its distinctive crescent shape. It is also sometimes called a crescent, from the French word for "crescent". Croissants are made of a leavened variant of puff pastry...
s, which were favored by the young polar bear, were restricted. After hurting his foot while slipping on a wet rock in his enclosure a month later in September, there was an outpouring of concern and support from fans worldwide.
In November 2007 and weighing over 90 kg (198 lb), Knut was deemed too dangerous for close handling and his interaction with human handlers was further diminished. The celebration of the cub's first birthday, which was attended by hundreds of children, was broadcast live on German television. The national mint also issued 25,000 special commemorative silver coins to mark his birthday. Knut's role at the Berlin Zoo was to have included his becoming an "attractive stud" for other zoos in order to help preserve his species. When Flocke
Flocke
Flocke is a female polar bear who was born in captivity at the Nuremberg Zoo in Nuremberg, Germany on 11 December 2007. A few weeks after her birth, she was removed from her mother's care after concerns were raised for her safety. Although the zoo had established a strict non-interference policy...
was born at the Nuremberg Zoo
Tiergarten Nürnberg
Nuremberg Zoo is a zoo located in the Nuremberg Reichswald , southeast of Nuremberg, Germany. With an area of , approximately 300 animal species are kept by the zoo.- In the Middle Ages :...
in December 2007 under similar circumstances, Bild dubbed her Mrs. Knut, suggesting that the two German-born polar bears might become mates when they matured.
2008–2010
Carp
Carp are various species of oily freshwater fish of the family Cyprinidae, a very large group of fish native to Europe and Asia. The cypriniformes are traditionally grouped with the Characiformes, Siluriformes and Gymnotiformes to create the superorder Ostariophysi, since these groups have certain...
from the moat surrounding his enclosure, saying that it was a breach of German animal protection regulations. The zoo's bear expert, Heiner Klös, however, said that Knut's behavior was "all part of being a polar bear."
In July 2008, it was announced that the Neumünster
Neumünster
Neumünster is an independent town in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, which has a total of four independent towns.-Current Situation:Neumünster station is major railway junction with lines running in six directions, including the important Hamburg-Altona–Kiel and Neumünster–Flensburg lines.Near...
Zoo in northern Germany, which owns Knut's father, was suing the Berlin Zoo for the profits from Knut's success. Although the Berlin Zoo conceded Neumünster's ownership of Knut due to a previous agreement, it contended that the other zoo has no right to its proceeds. Neumünster had previously tried to negotiate with Berlin Zoo, but later sought a court ruling in their favor. Peter Drüwa, the zoo director at Neumünster, stated that they "do not want to remove Knut from his environment, but we have a right to our request for money." Shortly before Knut's second birthday, reports began circulating that the bear would have to be relocated to another zoo because he was becoming too large for his enclosure. The zoo later released statements that they wish to keep Knut, and the mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, also declared he wanted the still-adolescent cub to stay in the capital.
Disputes between the two zoos continued into 2009. On 19 May, the Berlin Zoo offered to buy Knut from Neumünster and therefore negate their financial claim on the two-year-old polar bear. Although Neumünster Zoo set a price of €700,000, the Berlin Zoo stated that they would not pay "a cent more" than €350,000 ($488,145). On 8 July, the Berlin Zoo agreed to pay €430,000 ($599,721) to keep Knut in Berlin.
Giovanna, a female polar bear roughly the same age as Knut, was relocated to Berlin from Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
's Hellabrunn Animal Garden in September 2009. She was presented to the public on 23 September, and was due to briefly share Knut's enclosure while her regular home in Munich underwent repairs. Her arrival sparked international interest, as many sources mused that the two bears (although sexually immature) would soon be "dating". However, in March 2010, the German chapter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is an American animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, and led by Ingrid Newkirk, its international president. A non-profit corporation with 300 employees and two million members and supporters, it claims to be the largest animal rights...
called for Knut to be castrated in order to avoid inbreeding; he and Giovanna share a grandfather and, according to PETA spokesman Frank Albrecht, the same animal rights activist who spoke out about Knut's handraising three years earlier, their offspring would threaten the genetic diversity of the German polar bear population. The Berlin Zoo declined to comment on the matter, only noting that Giovanna's stay in Berlin was still temporary. In August 2010, Giovanna was moved back to Munich after repairs on her enclosure were completed.
Until his death, Knut shared an enclosure with three female polar bears: Nancy, Katjuscha and his mother Tosca. The older bears were reportedly aggressive towards the young male bear, causing news reports in late 2010 to question whether Knut was being bullied. One of the zookeepers disagreed, stating publicly that "For the time being, Knut is not yet an adult male and doesn't yet know how to get respect like his father did. But day by day, he is imposing himself and with time, this type of problem will go away."
Death
On 19 March 2011, at the age of four, Knut collapsed and died in his enclosure. Witnesses reported that after the bear's rear left leg began shaking, he became agitated before convulsing several times and falling backwards into the pool. Approximately 600 to 700 zoo visitors witnessed Knut's death. A statement made on 22 March in relation to the necropsy reported there were "significant changes in the brain, which may be regarded as a reason for the sudden death". Animal welfare organizations in Germany initially accused the Berlin Zoo of negligence, claiming that Knut died of stress caused by being forced to share his enclosure with three female polar bears. The Zoo denied such claims. Bear curator Heiner Klös stated they "did everything to look after Knut—it's normal for polar bears to live with other polar bears in a zoo, and the idea was that Knut should learn social behavior and other skills from the older females ... He played with the other bears, he was relaxed and strong".On 1 April, pathology experts announced that Knut's immediate cause of death was from drowning. The bear's apparent seizure was due to his suffering from encephalitis
Encephalitis
Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain. Encephalitis with meningitis is known as meningoencephalitis. Symptoms include headache, fever, confusion, drowsiness, and fatigue...
, a swelling of the brain likely triggered by an infection. It is unknown what infection caused the swelling, but pathologists believe it was a virus. Although Knut showed no symptoms of being ill, pathologists believe that "this suspected infection must already have been there for a long time ... at least several weeks, possibly months". It was also announced that had Knut not drowned after collapsing, he would not have survived the encephalitis.
Knut's sudden death caused an international outpouring of grief. Hundreds of fans visited the zoo after the bear's death, leaving flowers and mementos near the enclosure. The mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit
Klaus Wowereit
Klaus Wowereit is a German politician, member of the SPD , and has been the Mayor of Berlin since the 2001 state elections, where his party won a plurality of the votes, 29.7%. He served as President of the Bundesrat in 2001/02. His SPD-led coalition was re-elected in the 2006 elections...
, stated "We all held him so dearly. He was the star of the Berlin zoos". The Zoo plans to erect a monument in Knut's honor, financed by donations from fans. Thomas Ziolko, the chairman of the Friends of the Berlin Zoo, was quoted as saying "Knut will live on in the hearts of many visitors, but it's important to create a memorial for coming generations to preserve the memory of this unique animal personality." Knut's remains may also be stuffed and put on display in Berlin's Museum of Natural History, although this decision has caused some controversy with fans.
Commercial success
The Berlin Zoo registered "Knut" as a trademarkTrademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
in late March 2007. As a result, its shares
Share (finance)
A joint stock company divides its capital into units of equal denomination. Each unit is called a share. These units are offered for sale to raise capital. This is termed as issuing shares. A person who buys share/shares of the company is called a shareholder, and by acquiring share or shares in...
more than doubled at the Berlin Stock Exchange
Berliner Börse
Börse Berlin AG is a stock exchange based in Berlin, Germany, founded in 1685 through an edict of Great Elector Friedrich Wilhelm and is one of the oldest exchanges in Germany...
; previously worth around €2,000, the value closed at €4,820 just a week later. The zoo reported that its attendance figures for 2007 increased by an estimated 30 percent, making it the most profitable it had been in its 163 year history. Knut earned the Berlin Zoo nearly €5 million that year, mainly thanks to an increase in visitors as well as the amount of merchandise sold.
Various companies profited from the attention surrounding Knut by developing themed products such as ringtones and cuddly toys. Plush toy company Steiff produced several Knut-based plush toys in three sizes and models: sitting, standing, and lying down. The first 2,400 produced toys, which sold exclusively at the Berlin Zoo, sold out in only four days. The money raised from the Steiff deal was intended to be used to renovate the polar bear enclosure at the zoo. Candy company Haribo
HARIBO
Haribo is a German confectionery producer, founded in 1920 by Hans Riegel Sr. The company headquarters are in Bonn, and the name is an acronym for Hans Riegel, Bonn....
released a raspberry
Raspberry
The raspberry or hindberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus Rubus, most of which are in the subgenus Idaeobatus; the name also applies to these plants themselves...
-flavored gummy bear sweet called Cuddly Knut beginning in April 2007. They pledged to donate ten cents to the zoo for every tub of Knut sweets it sold. The gummy bears sold so well that the Bonn-based company had to expand production to a second factory to deal with demand.
Knut was the subject of several popular songs in Germany, the most successful of which were the singles "Knut is Cute" and "Knut, der kleine Eisbär" (“Knut, the little polar bear”) by nine-year-old Kitty from Köpenick
Köpenick
Köpenick is a historic town and locality that is situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree in the south-east of the German capital city of Berlin. It was formerly known as Copanic and then Cöpenick, only officially adopting the current spelling in 1931...
. In Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, musical comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
Mitch Benn
Mitch Benn
Mitch Benn is a British musician and stand-up comedian known for his humorous songs performed on BBC radio. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4's satirical programme The Now Show, and has hosted other radio shows.Benn has performed at several music festivals, and at the Edinburgh Festival...
has performed four songs about Knut for BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
satirical series The Now Show
The Now Show
The Now Show is a British radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4, which satirises the week's news. The show is a mixture of stand-up, sketches and songs presented by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis...
: "The Baby Bear Must DIE!", "Knut Isn't Cute Anymore", "Goodbye Knut" and "Panda in Berlin". A blog with updates about the polar bear was maintained by a journalist at the regional public broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg is an institution under public law for the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, situated in Berlin and Potsdam...
; it was available in German, English, and Spanish. RBB was also responsible for a weekly television program dedicated to the polar bear cub that was broadcast in Germany. Knut has also been the subject of several DVDs, including one entitled "Knut – Stories from a Polar Bear's Nursery". He appeared on the 29 March 2007 cover of the German Vanity Fair magazine, which included a several page spread about the cub's life.
On 1 May 2007, it was announced that New York-based Turtle Pond Publications and the Berlin Zoo had signed a deal for the worldwide publishing rights to Knut with the hopes of raising awareness of global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
issues. Written by Craig Hatkoff
Craig Hatkoff
Craig M. Hatkoff is an American real estate investor and philanthropist from New York City. Along with his wife Jane Rosenthal and Robert De Niro, he co-founded the Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Institute in 2002...
and his daughters Juliana and Isabella, the 44-page book entitled Knut, der kleine Eisbärenjunge (Little Polar Bear Knut) includes Knut's life story as well as previously unpublished photographs. Although several books about Knut had already been published in Germany, this book was the first to be authorized by the Berlin Zoo.
The book was published in Germany by Ravensburger on 26 July 2007 and US publishing company Scholastic released the English version, entitled Knut: How one little polar bear captivated the world, in the United States in November of the same year. Rights to the book have also been sold to publishers in Japan, England, Mexico, China, and Italy.
On 31 December 2007, the zoo's director confirmed the zoo had received a proposal for a film deal from Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
film producer Ash R. Shah, whose films include Supernova and Shark Bait
Shark Bait
Shark Bait is a 2006 computer animated film. The plot revolves around Pi and his attempt to win the heart of Cordelia while dealing with a bullying shark. The film was a commercial failure...
, to make an animated film about the bear's life. Shah reportedly approached the Berlin Zoo with a purported €3.5 million film deal. Knut made his big screen debut in the German film Knut und seine Freunde (Knut and His Friends), which premiered in Berlin on 2 March 2008. Directed by Michael Johnson, the film depicts how Knut was rescued after his mother abandoned him and also features a polar bear family from the Arctic and two brown bear cubs from Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
.
Environmental causes
Sigmar Gabriel
Sigmar Gabriel is a German politician currently chairing the Social Democratic Party of Germany .On 15 December 1999, after the resignation of Gerhard Glogowski, who had succeeded Gerhard Schröder in office, Gabriel became Minister-President of Lower Saxony and served until 4 March 2003...
officially adopted Knut as the mascot for a conference on endangered species to be held in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
in 2008. The minister met with Knut soon after his zoo debut, commenting that although Knut was in safe hands, "worldwide polar bears are in danger and if Knut can help the cause, then that is a good thing."
Photographer Annie Leibovitz
Annie Leibovitz
Anna-Lou "Annie" Leibovitz is an American portrait photographer.-Early life and education:Born in Waterbury, Connecticut, Leibovitz is the third of six children. She is a third-generation American whose great-grandparents were Jewish immigrants, from Central and Eastern Europe. Her father's...
took pictures of Knut that were used for an environmental campaign, including Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
magazine's May 2007 Green Issue in which he was superimposed into a photograph with American actor Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
. The polar bear has also been depicted on the logo for the German Environment Minister's campaign to help stop global warming and a 2008 special issue stamp. Officially released on 9 April, the stamp shows the roughly one-year-old Knut with the slogan "Natur weltweit bewahren" ("Preserve nature worldwide").
External links
- Official homepage of the Zoologischer Garten Berlin
- Knut media centre at Rundfunk Berlin-BrandenburgRundfunk Berlin-BrandenburgRundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg is an institution under public law for the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, situated in Berlin and Potsdam...
- Turtle Pond Productions website for Knut: How one little polar bear captivated the world