UPDATED: Knut the Polar Bear has Died

UPDATE: Nothing new on cause of death but a reader asked if we could add a couple of the other Knut pics we used over the years. From September 2007's "The Arctic: Boating Paradise":

...Well first I thought of Knut. Cute, cuddly Knut. But not the cute Knut of last winter:


No. I thought of the morbidly obese, malingering Knut:

Knut Feigning Sore Paw to Get Attention

By David Crossland in Berlin

Berlin Zoo's polar bear superstar Knut is so lonely that he has been deliberately limping to get some attention, says his keeper Thomas Dörflein, who knows the shaggy cub better than anyone else. The ruse is working: Visitors have been cooing over him and alarmed fans have been writing in from as far away as Brazil and Hawaii.

DPA

Knut sticking out his tongue at visitors last week.
Knut the celebrity polar bear has been receiving get-well messages from around the world ever since he slipped on a wet rock and hurt his paw last Friday -- but his keeper at Berlin Zoo thinks he's only pretending to be in pain because he likes the attention.

Original post:
From Der Spiegel:

Celebrity Polar Bear Knut Is Dead

The paper has chronicled Knut through the years and has a photo retrospective.

From USA Today:

Popular Berlin polar bear found dead in mysterious circumstances

Knut helped this blog get its start (maybe not in the way one might suppose).

December 2007
Knut the Polar Bear's Birthday
If you're going for Knut news, who better than Der Spiegel?


January 2008
Knut Signs $5 Mil. Hollywood Deal: Series, Idol in the Wings?

February 2008
Polar Bear Trademark Battle Grips Nuremberg

May 2009
In Today's Polar Bear News...
Always remembering that our blog descriptor is "Money Matters" we have this, from Earth Times:

Courtroom wranglings over price of famous Berlin polar bear Knut
Berlin's famous zoo resident, Knut the polar bear, was the subject of financial wranglings Tuesday, as zoo chiefs tried to agree on the sale of the bear from Neumuenster Zoo to Berlin Zoo, where he was born and gained worldwide fame.

Peter Druewa, the chief executive of Neumuenster Zoo which owns Knut, said he was not prepared to sell the bear for less than 700,000 euros (944,000 dollars), while Berlin Zoo refused to pay "a cent more" than 350,000 euros.

The Columbia Journalism Review on Green Reporting

 Climateer Investing will continue to share the stories that grab our interest, avoiding boosterism and heartstrings journalism.

OMG!!!
(via Terry)

And my favorite Knut pic:
March 2008
First Solar and Knut the Polar Bear (FSLR)

....So much for 205 on the FSLR. Here's our market snapshot:

Still Think I'm Cute?

Fangs for the memories: Knut is separated from this little boy by six inches of glass
One year on, cuddly Knut has turned into a 22st killing machine