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All Germany Berlin Knut the Polar Bear

Knut the Polar Bear

Berlin's beloved bear is immortalized at the Museum für Naturkunde.

Berlin, Germany

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Meg Neal
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Knut the Polar Bear   Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Knut the Polar Bear   Adam Berry/Getty Images
Knut the Polar Bear   JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images
Knut at the Berlin Zoo in 2007.   jtriefen/CC BY 2.0
Knut mounted at the Museum für Naturkunde.   Alandeus/CC BY-SA 3.0
Knut mounted at the Museum für Naturkunde.   Alandeus/CC BY-SA 3.0
Knut mounted at the Museum für Naturkunde.   Daniel Mietchen/Public Domain
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Knut the polar bear, rejected by his mother and raised by zookeepers, became an international celebrity after his unfortunate beginnings. He was the first polar bear cub to survive at the Berlin Zoo in more than 30 years, and the fluffy bear was happy to frolic with humans, particularly when rewarded with his favorite treat, croissants.

Sadly, Knut died at only four years old after an encephalitic seizure, the first known case of such a disease appearing in a non-human. Germany went into mourning for its beloved bear, and Knut's pelt was mounted at the Museum für Naturkunde.

The bear was displayed in the entranceway of the museum, and later was added to the museum's hefty collection of other taxidermy. Though he was a bear that lived a fairly tame life, Knut's afterlife will be spent among his wild companions.

Related Tags

Bears Animals Heroes Of Taxidermy Taxidermy Fauna Museums And Collections

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Added By

Meg

Edited By

Molly McBride Jacobson, Michelle Cassidy

  • Molly McBride Jacobson
  • Michelle Cassidy

Published

February 17, 2017

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Sources
  • https://www.thelocal.de/20110323/33903
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knut_(polar_bear)
  • http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/knut-the-polar-bear-taxidermy-on-display
  • http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/knut-the-polar-bear-taxidermy-on-display
Knut the Polar Bear
Invalidenstraße 43
Berlin
Germany
52.530289, 13.379143
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