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  #1  
Old March 3rd, 2008, 12:23 AM
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Knut the polar bear no longer cute



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A year ago, he was a cute and cuddly ball of white fur who captured the hearts of millions worldwide.

But Knut the polar bear has grown up fast - as this startled young visitor to Berlin Zoo discovered.

Knut now weighs 22 stone and has six-inch claws and a fearsome set of fangs to match.

And he seemed to be particularly keen to test them on the three-year-old boy lying on the ground next to his enclosure.

Fortunately for the youngster, six inches of glass capable of withstanding a mortar attack separated him from the jaws of the world's most famous captive bear.

Knut was rejected by his mother at birth in December 2006.

Some animal rights activists said it would be better for him to die than to be weaned by mankind.

The zoo directors decided to let him live, however, and he went on to become a major attraction, pulling in £5million in revenue in a year.

But his days of being picked up and cuddled are long gone.

He is, after all, a wild animal and now not even the keeper who raised him by hand dares to get close.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770
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Old March 3rd, 2008, 12:31 AM
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HAHAH he's still cute to me. He's saying "NOM NOM NOM"
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Old March 3rd, 2008, 01:04 AM
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I think he's still cute

Great shot too - not of course cuz it looks like he's after the kid, but artistically and for the sake of realism
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Old March 3rd, 2008, 06:55 AM
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I also think he is cute .

Not sure if I agree that this journalist should have published such negative comments on him being a vicious and not so cute.
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Old March 3rd, 2008, 08:17 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jiorji View Post
HAHAH he's still cute to me. He's saying "NOM NOM NOM"
Yeah I agree with you!

Notice how quick they were to say how much money was made purely off of cuteness.
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Old March 3rd, 2008, 06:25 PM
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That picture is hilarious - that polar bear looks like he's been having a rough day!

He's definitely still cute - and the kid doesn't even look fazed..
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Old March 3rd, 2008, 06:54 PM
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The only trouble I have with the article, is the stones part.

Why do the brits insist on using that unit of weight measurement that no one else in this world has a clue about!? Only they use it!

And frankly, I flatly refuse to even learn what the equivalent in pounds is. It's bad enough that everyone has signed the metric convention but that only the native metric users know the conversion between pounds and kilos.

How do you do decimals with the "stones"? Pebbles and rocks and when you get enough stones, I guess you count boulders silly.
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Old March 3rd, 2008, 07:06 PM
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1 stone is around 14 pounds I think.

They can't use the word pound for weight when pound is one word for money, or quid also for pound.

I watch a lot of British movies and documentaries. It soaks in after a while. lol Having a conversation with a well spoken Brit is way more pleasurable than speaking to most people in North America.

But hey you're in Canada... and the queen is still on the money.
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Old March 3rd, 2008, 07:37 PM
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Zoos exist, all over the world, so that we can enjoy the animals there. This is a great chance for the parents to teach their children to realize that these animals grow up and are actually wild and dangerous. We may never in our lifetime have a chance to see them in their real habitat. Articles in newspapers can often be negative and we mustn't take what is written, so seriously. We have our own minds and can have our own opinion about what we read and how we want to interpret it.
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Old March 3rd, 2008, 07:44 PM
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Go figure! The polar bear is actually acting like a wild animal.
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Old March 4th, 2008, 11:40 AM
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Look at those shiny white teeth!
Instead of spending his life at the zoo, that bear could be doing Colgate commercials.
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  #12  
Old March 4th, 2008, 10:58 PM
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that's why he's angry
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  #13  
Old March 5th, 2008, 08:37 AM
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Old March 5th, 2008, 09:06 AM
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I think he's still cute and he does have lovely teeth. Personally I think he's letting the kid know his scarf doesn't go with his hat.
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Old March 5th, 2008, 10:03 PM
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I think the zoo should hold a contest for cutlines for the photo, lol

And he IS still cute!! He could be telling the kid to get out of his space or telling him he is breaking the fashion code or why aren't you ion school?

I don't care for the negative tones in the reporters' article but I care less about stones. I have spent so much time in so many countries that I like diversity - and stones are used in several countries still - mostly thx to the commonwealth of course but have you ever tried explaining curling (as in the game with brooms on ice , not with curlers in one's hair) or even Canadian football to Serbians, Russians, even some French doctors and Americans who live in Oklahoma. We live in a wide world with many folkways and measurements. It makes life interesting.

In 1968, all hospitals went to metric- one full swoop - no arguing, whining or committees. It was just done. People did whine for about a week and then we all got with the program. Fortunately, this was well before my time but I do know know some of the English system which is of no use to me in a hospital. When I confew with British colleagues, they all use kg to describe weight 0 read the Lancet and you will see. Then again, the metric has always been the scientific language of measurement.

Anyway, sorry to digress. I still think this bear is cute regardless of how many stones, kg or pounds he weighs, lol
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Old March 6th, 2008, 02:24 PM
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He's still cute, LOL, just not particularly fond of 3 year olds who stand too close to the glass.

Did the journalist think he'd stay a baby forever? He's a wild animal, cut Knut some slack guy.
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