THE STORY OF KNUT

·

“Gypsy sad.” 

YESTERDAY’S STORY OF SUKI, the newest celebrity polar bear to make it into news reports around the world, reminded us of Knut. Knut, also a celebrity in his time seems to have led a sad life as Patti (PattiKen and the Muses – Home Away from Home) reminded us awhile back in a comment.

Between his five-minutes of fame and his death, it looks like he didn’t lead the happiest life. He was bullied by some of the other bears. Maybe the bears need their own Lady Gaga to advocate against bullying.

He very nearly got evicted when he grew too old.

… and finally, the cause of death was determined …

·

Knut der Eisbär im Zoo Berlin, Januar 2011

December 5, 2006 – March 19, 2011

Polar bears normally live to be between 15-18 years. 

Some have been known to live as long as 30 years.

FAQs About Polar Bears – Polar Bears International

Gypsy photo ~ courtesy of KarenFayeth, © all rights reserved

Knut photo~ courtesy of Nicola via Wikipedia under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Video uploads are all courtesy of  CBS.

STAR OF WILDLIFE RESERVE, TV, AND YOU TUBE: Suki, abandoned polar bear cub

“Poor baby. He needs to be adopted like me. What size litter box does he need?”

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A Danish zoo says a month-old polar bear cub is being raised by humans after his mother failed to produce enough milk to feed him. Scandinavian Wildlife Park manager Frank Vigh-Larsen says Siku is doing “really fine.” The cub now weighs 7 pounds (3.2 kilograms grams) – against 3 pounds (1.8 kilograms) at birth.

Vigh-Larsen said Thursday that the cub was two days old when he was removed from his mother after surveillance video inside the bear cave revealed that he “was moaning and being unruly all the time.”

Vigh-Larsen says Siku would have been in danger of death if he had stayed with his mother.

Three people are giving round-the-clock care to the cub at the zoo in Kolind, 105 miles (170 kilometers) northwest of Copenhagen. MORE [Sacramento Bee]

Three Polar bears approach the starboard bow of the Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine USS Honolulu (SSN 718) while surfaced 280 miles from the North Pole. Sighted by a lookout from the bridge (sail) of the submarine, the bears investigated the boat for almost 2 hours before leaving. Commanded by Cmdr. Charles Harris, USS Honolulu while conducting otherwise classified operations in the Arctic, collected scientific data and water samples for U.S. and Canadian Universities as part of an agreement with the Arctic Submarine Laboratory (ASL) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). USS Honolulu is the 24th Los Angeles-class submarine, and the first original design in her class to visit the North Pole region.Honolulu is assigned to Commander Submarine Pacific, Submarine Squadron Three, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Video upload to YouTube by nightjarflying 

Photo credit ~ in the public domain and courtesy of Wikipedia