New Cub Could Out-Cute Knut

Nuremberg's tiny 'Snowflake' draws legions of fans, setting up rivalry
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 14, 2008 1:50 PM CST
New Cub Could Out-Cute Knut
A photo provided by the 'Tiergarten Nuernberg' zoo in Nuremberg on Friday, Jan. 11, 2008 shows a polar bear baby during the evening feeding on Thursday, Jan 10, 2008. The Nuremberg zoo bottle-feed the cub that was taken away from its mother "Vera" over fears she might harm it. (AP Photo/Tiergarten...   (Associated Press)

There’s a new polar bear in Germany, and Knut had better watch his back, reports Der Spiegel, because the Nuremberg zoo’s 2.4-kilo baby bruin is drawing international attention for being so gosh darn cute. Fans have sent 15,000 name suggestions since Friday, but for now she’s called “Flocke,” German for "snowflake."

Flocke has been so popular that fans crashed the zoo’s Internet server, and she's inspired admirers to knit bibs and send letters. But Berlin bear backers scoff at the notion that Snowflake will top Knut. “Isn’t the original always better than a copy?” asked one editorial. “You have to want a star. Knut was ready for an international career from the word go.” (More Knut stories.)

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