圖片及新聞來源：
http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,480321,00.html
Knut Steadily Getting Less Cute
It’s a tragic fact of life. Celebrity polar bear cub Knut, now almost five months old, is gradually mutating from a fluffy porridge-lapping cub into a heavy bruiser with a penchant for meat off the bone. But the visitors are still flocking to see him.
Knut is looking more like an adult every day.
Knut’s days of extreme cuteness are numbered now that he has acquired a markedly longer snout and weighs a chubby 17 kilograms (37 pounds), twice as much as when he first appeared before an adoring public five weeks ago.
”His teeth are sharper and he’s stronger, he still gets porridge but we now feed him beef on the bone occasionally,” the zoo’s bear expert Heiner Klös told SPIEGEL ONLINE. ”He’s calmed down a bit, he doesn’t potter around as much as he used to and he’s happy to sit on his own more often. But he still wanders back to his keeper to tank up on security.”
Knut’s faithful handler Thomas Dörflein has taken to wearing long-sleeved shirts or pullovers and gloves to protect himself when he handles Knut. But the polar bear cub immediately obeys when Dörflein has had enough and tells him to stop biting him with the stern command ”Aus!”
Klös said it’s impossible to predict when Knut will be able to sleep on his own without a keeper by his side, or when he will be too dangerous to handle closely. ”At the moment handling him is no problem and we don’t have a timetable in that regard.”
Even though he’s getting bigger every day, the crowds are still pouring in to see him. More than 25,000 people visited the zoo at the weekend.
Meanwhile, the extensive range of Knut merchandise was increased last week with the launch of a porcelain Knut by venerable Berlin-based china manufacturer Königliche Porzellan Manufaktur Berlin.
柏林動物園的小北極熊Knut越長越大了（見上圖）。Knut誕生於2006年12月5號，星座為活潑又聰明的射手座。牠是柏林動物園30年來第一隻誕生並且存活的北極熊。牠的親娘已經20歲，之前在馬戲團工作，生下Knut跟牠的兄弟之後，就不管兄弟倆死活。Knut的兄弟四天後不幸死掉，Knut被工作人員接手之後，至今已經五個月大了，隨著牠的長大，也越來越沒有小時候可愛，不過柏林動物園已經靠牠賺了不少錢了。。
更多Knut的影音：
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBQRfKeIYZc
