Awww, so sad. Just heard the news:
Berlin's beloved polar bear Knut, who rose to international stardom as a cuddly cub hand-raised by zookeepers, died suddenly on Saturday, a zoo official said.
The world-famous bear died alone in his compound without warning, bear keeper Heiner Kloes told The Associated Press.
"It was a completely normal day: He was with the female bears before, who had just been shut away," Kloes said. "Then, Knut strolled around the enclosure, went into the water, had a short spasm and died." A post mortem will be conducted on Monday to try to pinpoint the cause of death, he said.
Between 600 and 700 people were at Knut's compound and saw the four-year-old bear die, German news agency DAPD reported.
One visitor said she watched Knut lying on the surface of the water motionless with only his back showing for ten minutes until zookeepers came and fenced off the compound. "Everybody was asking, 'What's going on, why is Knut not moving?'" said Camilla Verde, a 30-year-old Italian who lives in Berlin.
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When New York City’s health department revealed last weekend that three people had contracted cholera, it was a reminder that the city is not just a world capital of arts, business and the like — but also of exotic diseases.
If a disease has cropped up in the world, there is a good chance it will eventually find its way to New York City through the diverse travelers who cross the city’s borders.
For instance, several people every year are found to have a biblical disease, leprosy, though health officials say no one has to fear catching it in the subway. In 2002, bubonic plague, more commonly associated with the 14th century, found its way to New York City through two travelers who came from a ranch in New Mexico, where the disease is endemic in flea-bitten wild animals like prairie dogs....
Scientist Kris Helgen holds an Eastern long-beaked echidna in Indonesia's Foja Mountains (map) in a file picture. The elusive egg-laying species is one of the rarest and most genetically unique mammals on the planet, according to the Zoological Society of London's 2010 EDGE (Evolutionarily Distinct, Globally Endangered) list, released November 19. (Take an endangered-animals quiz.)
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