Cover boy 'Knut'
Posted: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 12:38 PM
By Andy Eckardt, NBC News Producer
Cuddly and cute, "Knut," the German polar bear cub, has made a big splash on the international media landscape.
Photos of the playful little fellow have been plastered across international newspapers, magazines, and on TVs around the globe. His first public outing at the Berlin Zoo drew over 200 journalists from around the world and German television broadcast it live.
The hype around Knut has been so enormous that the wave of extra visitors to the Berlin zoo - up to 30,000 on one recent weekend – has required the facility to employ additional staff.
Among the extra visitors was Annie Leibowitz, the celebrity photographer, who flew in from New York to take pictures.
Knut memorabilia has been flying off the shelves - from fluffy little toys to polar baby t-shirts. The first 2,500 stuffed animals that went on sale in Berlin were sold out within a week. A Berlin bank even issued a new debit card for its customers featuring a Knut motif.
Ever since his birth in December, Knut has been raised by a zoo keeper because his mother abandoned him. His situation gained global attention when an animal rights activist complained that that hand-feeding is not appropriate for polar bears and would condemn the bear to a dysfunctional life. German media interpreted the animal activist’s charge as a call for euthanasia for the cub. But zoo keepers and veterinarians alike have assured the public the bear will be fine.
Joining the ranks of supermodels
So Knut may be a grown polar bear within the year, changing from a cuddly little cub to a large animal with wild instincts, but in the meantime, he will get a little more of the limelight previously enjoyed by other famous Germans like Claudia Schiffer and Heidi Klum.
Knut will appear on the cover of the German edition of Vanity Fair magazine on Thursday. The glamour magazine will feature a 16-page cover story called "I, Knut -- A World Star From Germany."
And while appearing as a star standing alone on the German cover, Knut may have to share the spotlight on an upcoming "Green Issue" of American Vanity Fair with another pin-up boy and environmental activist: Leonardo DiCaprio.
