Nature & Environment
German Celebrity Polar Bear on Display at Berlin Museum
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Feb 18, 2013 09:10 AM EST
A beloved polar bear may not be quite done with putting on a show in front of his audience--despite being dead. Knut, the German polar bear that captured the hearts of the public, is now putting on his final show at Berlin's natural history museum where a life-size model has been cloaked with his pelt.
Knut was first born in the Berlin zoo in 2007. Rejected by his mother, the polar bear cub was then raised by zookeeper Thomas Doerflein. Little was the zoo to know, though, that the polar bear would soon achieve unexpected heights of fame. Visitors flocked to the bear's enclosure to watch him frolic and play. The cub even made the cover of Vanity Fair.
When Doerflein died of a heart attack in 2008, though, Knut became withdrawn and depressed. The bear began to increasingly seek the attentions of the crowds that visited him, putting on a show as cameras snapped away. Sadly, in 2011, the public watched Knut during his final moments. The polar bear suffered a brain aneurysm in his enclosure as he stood, staggered and toppled over into the water. Knut drowned that day, but his legacy lived on.
Now, officials have taken Knut's pelt and have draped it over a life-sized model of the polar bear. Based on the bear's skeleton and placed in one of his favorite poses, the process for creating the model covered with the creature's pelt is what is known as dermoplasty.
The model itself has expressive eyes and a damp nose, according to museum director Johannes Vogel. It will remain on display from February 16 until March 15, when Knut will be archived until a permanent exhibit opens in 2014.
While other German zoos have attempted to create celebrity animals such as Knut, none have yet come close to matching the polar bear's fame.
Want to see more pictures of Knut? Check them out here.
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First Posted: Feb 18, 2013 09:10 AM EST
A beloved polar bear may not be quite done with putting on a show in front of his audience--despite being dead. Knut, the German polar bear that captured the hearts of the public, is now putting on his final show at Berlin's natural history museum where a life-size model has been cloaked with his pelt.
Knut was first born in the Berlin zoo in 2007. Rejected by his mother, the polar bear cub was then raised by zookeeper Thomas Doerflein. Little was the zoo to know, though, that the polar bear would soon achieve unexpected heights of fame. Visitors flocked to the bear's enclosure to watch him frolic and play. The cub even made the cover of Vanity Fair.
When Doerflein died of a heart attack in 2008, though, Knut became withdrawn and depressed. The bear began to increasingly seek the attentions of the crowds that visited him, putting on a show as cameras snapped away. Sadly, in 2011, the public watched Knut during his final moments. The polar bear suffered a brain aneurysm in his enclosure as he stood, staggered and toppled over into the water. Knut drowned that day, but his legacy lived on.
Now, officials have taken Knut's pelt and have draped it over a life-sized model of the polar bear. Based on the bear's skeleton and placed in one of his favorite poses, the process for creating the model covered with the creature's pelt is what is known as dermoplasty.
The model itself has expressive eyes and a damp nose, according to museum director Johannes Vogel. It will remain on display from February 16 until March 15, when Knut will be archived until a permanent exhibit opens in 2014.
While other German zoos have attempted to create celebrity animals such as Knut, none have yet come close to matching the polar bear's fame.
Want to see more pictures of Knut? Check them out here.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone