We knew it had to happen. Celebrity polar bear Knut growing into beast:
Knut, Berlin Zoo’s celebrity polar bear cub, is growing from a cuddly ball of fur into a shaggy, powerful predator who could soon pose a serious threat to his devoted human keeper who has nursed him from birth.The cub, which still draws some 5,000 fans every day, turns six months on Tuesday and his 28 kg (62 pounds) are starting to show. His snout is longer, his torso chunkier and teeth sharper.
Thomas Doerflein, who for months slept in Knut’s enclosure to feed him milk and porridge through the night, still rolls on the ground with the cub in his twice daily shows and lets him bite his fingers.
But he has taken to pulling his long sleeves over his hands to protect them and winces when the cub bites him on the bottom. Captivated admirers watch Doerflein duck and shoulder away Knut when he gets boisterous.
“He’s just playing and it doesn’t hurt, it just pinches a bit. It only hurts when he gets angry,” the bearded Doerflein, who already has a few bruises, told Reuters.
In addition to porridge, the young star now tucks into fish, meat and cat food and is putting on around 200 grams a day.
Last week, he learned how to swim and Doerflein takes Knut for a walk round the Zoo every morning to build up his muscles. His coat is no longer white and fluffy, but yellow and shaggy.
“He is getting bigger and is gruffer than he used to be and is learning his role as a loner,” said zoo vet Andre Schuele, who estimates that Knut will not be fully grown for another four years or so.
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Doerflein thinks he will be able to play with Knut until he is about a year-old, by which time the cub will be 60-80 kg, compared to about 500 kg when he is fully grown.The keepers say the cub regards Doerflein as his mother and is therefore unlikely to attack him, but some experts fear he could get dangerous sooner and point to worrying precedents.
In the 1920s, a Norwegian explorer had to put down “Marie,” a polar bear cub he had reared, after she attacked him. Historians put the cub’s age at only four months, although some experts suspect she might have been older.