Knut - the polar bear born at Berlin zoo

It is a Norwegian/Scandinavian male name. No idea of its origins.

google tells me that Knut is a name from the middle ages and has its origin in Northern Europe.

edit: me too slow

That little cuddly ball of white fur will be the world's biggest land carnivore in about 14 months.

So get your cuddlies off and then get over it. Whatever happens to the bear should be planned with this perspective, and right now.

polar bear attack at zoo



Up close shots of polar bears

Re vid 1 -

Uh.. Yeah.. I'm sorry, but seriously... if you jump the fence to get closer to a "wild animal" that's bigger than you are and eats meat, don't be surprised when you get mauled.

Re vid 2 - See post for vid 1.

Simple. Comes from "Zum Knutschen" dunnit?

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knut_(Vorname)

Well duh. It's a bear. Don't get close to it, and leave it in it's cage. The animals in the videos were not hand-raised. I am sure Thomas D. is aware of the danger--it won't be easy to go from being Papa to being potential food - but he is choosing to take the risk. The rest of us are fine as long as we don't get within paw's reach.

p.s. in the second video they were just checking the guy out, not attacking him.

The word on the street is that Knut, when he gets older and larger, will have parts of his fur dyed black and will be presented to the Chinese people to compensate for the recently demised Yan-Yan.

Where can I buy one of these?
My boyfriend brought home a horse magazine recently (he likes ponies) which has a photo of a couple of 5 year old zebras for sale. I figure if you can buy zebras then I'd have no problem getting me a lion or wolf as a pet, but now I quite fancy a polar bear.
I'll trade you the phone number for the zebras, if you can put me in touch with anyone who has cubs for sale (must be house trained).

i think i found what you are looking for here.

i thought his name was pronounced "nut" until about 5 minutes ago

Thanks Planetmoni! I'll put in an order and start clearing out the freezer so I can fit some cuddly toys and a basket in there for him.

Knut is so hot (even though I may have thought his name was pronounced "nut" up until yesterday). Here he is on this month's cover of German Vanity Fair.

Is he doing some kind of crazy karate move for the camara? haha

Right next to Knut's photo is the title, "Ich bin kein Heiratstyp", "I am not the type to get married"

Have not read all the posts so far ( so perhaps someone else has written about this) but I just saw on that some channel ( I think Sat I) airs a show on Saturday mornings at 0950 about Knut. I think Knut is the cutest thing ever but things are getting a bit out of control, he is an animal not a teddy bear.

Wait... what are you saying? He's an ANIMAL!?

What is your problem? I was not commenting the fact that he is an ANIMAL but the fact the crazy ( in my opinion) German television is going to air a show on Saturday mornings aboiut Knut. My mom always says "if you have nothing nice to say, do not say anything"...

What's not nice about being an animal?
And anyhoo, I happen to like TV shows about animals. Unless it's cruel, like putting skates on him and making him dance. But if it raises awareness for polar bears I don't see a problem with it.
Would your mom like you saying unkind things about TV shows about animals? Hmmm?

What I'm wondering about Knut is would Angelina Jolie hump him? I mean she's done all kinds of other weird shit and seemingly she's on his level beauty wise so whaddaboudit?

I think it is cruel since we do not know how it might effect him and I think it is wrong when we transfer human behaviour and sentiments to an animal...but I also think docu-soaps are wrong when the are about humans so perhaps this is why I am put-off by this. I also like tv-shows about animals, the Richard Attenborough kind, which I doubt this is...

However Knut is supercute but I think we should leave him alone...

i don't think knut cares and notices these things. media attention will get less. being in zoo, means he will never really be out of the public eye. i hope he gets to meet some other bears in his (imprisoned) life.

I'm a sucker for animal shows -- those zoo shows (in leipzig) -- weiches fell, scharfe krallen -- all that stuff. I love it. Those shows have a benefit, too. We can ogle Knut and other little cuties without pestering them with our physical presence (just once with the cameraman, not with the millions in the audience) -- I pretend for an hour that I, too, could be a rhino shit shoveler...

I should have mentioned this at coffee, but is anyone up for visiting Knut at the zoo next weekend? BerlinOnline claims he's out to be seen from 14:00 to 15:00, so it could be a pre-coffee activity (and we could do coffee somewhere in Tiergarten or Charlottenburg).

... if you havent already gone, save yourself the trip. I had to go because of work and the chaos there is unbelieveable. I went to film the chaos, so for me it was perfect, but never again!! I'd hate to see what its like on the weekend. You have to line up out the zoo then to get a front row seat you have to stand at the fence hours before he comes out.. "let the water cool down before attempting to enter..."... but of course there are the other animals in the zoo

CNN: Bastards plan to eat Knut

Ok not literally, I just liked the title.

I might actually buy these for myself.

Yea please someone please just eat the little bugger. Not that i got anything against him personally, but i only got so much patience for cutycutycutysweetnessdiddldaddl ... and it seems like month that you cannot walk past a newspaper stand without subconsiously reading KNUTKNUTKNUTKNUTKNUTkunt...
I mean... weeks after weeks with like 6 pages in all the unimportant newspapers of the city, it is like nothing else happens in the town anymore. They could probably burn the rütlischule down and proclaim the anarchist republic of kreuzberg, and no one would even notice because the're all busy with KNUT.

I might have to try this Knut candy. Mmmmm...He is very adorable but yes, people obsess a little too much.

As JTW mentioned in the other post, getting in to see knut was actually easier than expected. We just went to the bears area about an hour before he was put on display and wound up with "front row" standing area. The catch is that you only get to see him for 10 minutes before being "kindly" asked to move on so that others can see him too.

I did take some video, and it's on youtube for those that want to see knut and all the other baby animals (they have baby baboons, pigs, elephant, geraffe, etc. too!) that were on display on Saturday. To find the post, check the coffee meetup thread for Berlin.

~Rose

[img]http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/6179/motivator7146598ac7.jpg[/img]

Knuts new teeth, .. WOW our little Knut is growing up..

Knut has been taken off display as he is cutting his upper right canine. The zoo rushed to reassure the public that Knut was able to eat his normal breakfast.
Thank goodness, I almost couldn't sleep for worrying

Guess there'll be no more chewing on Papa Dörflein.

Some not so cute Knut pictures http://www.berlinonline.de/themen/galerie/..._vs-_knut?popup
Anyone for a McKnut?

Some crazy lunatic or lunatics are threatening to kill him...

Berlin's Polar Bear Cub Knut Receives Death Threat

Full story Der Spiegel

He has 15 bloody bodyguards

Topics merged by admin

we know... and know..

Didn't Knut kill a baby panda???

No the panda died cause everyone was paying attention to Knut at the time and no one noticed that the panda was sick or something.

Now he is 6 months old and weighing 28 Kg.

I wonder how long more his keeper will be with him until the first bite?

Knut Celebrates Six Glorious Months

'Cute Knut' raking in cash at Berlin Zoo

"BERLIN - "Cute Knut," Germany's celebrity polar bear cub, is turning into a moneymaker for the Berlin Zoo, which expects to bring in $3.3 million more than last year due to a dramatic rise in visitors. "

In addition to being a money maker, the article continues, this year -

"the zoo record its millionth visitor of the year in mid-May, a mark not typically reached until late July. Revenue is expected to rise to nearly $20 million this year from $16.6 million in 2006."

So, they're 2 months ahead of schedule because of the white blob of cutness.

~Rose

End of the 'Knut and Thomas Show' at Berlin Zoo

The wee fur ball is no longer a cute thing. over 50 kg and growing each day. The Knut era is over.

He has a problem...

Germany's latest animal phenom is going on a diet. Knut is getting too big and losing his appeal.

No more croissants for Knut

Must be tough for him with a bakery on every corner...

Topics merged by admin

Fact is, Knut needs to slow down. He has an emotional problem. Too many folk making too much of him. He needs the fat to protect him.

We have been merged.

Danke. Not sure how I missed the original post with all that juicy Knut goss.

In a related story... there's a new baby at the Berlin zoo - it's a little giraffe named Inge. She was born August 3, and is already 1.90 m high.

<img src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41104000/jpg/_41104452_berlin_afp416.jpg">

More on Yahoo News.

Paul the hippo too.

Paul the hippo

Knut has somehow got injured. His caretakers noticed that he was keeping the weight off his right hind leg and examined him. No bones seem to be broken, it could be a contusion. The vet gave him a shot to ease the pain, he (Knut) is under observation.