"Knut 2.0"? New polar bear star gets own web page

BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhuanet) -- The German city of Nuremberg on Friday launched a web page dedicated to a four-week-old polar bear, which has risen to stardom after local zookeepers have decided to rear it away from its mother, media reported.

The web page provides details of the cuddly creature's health and lures viewers with a gallery of photos. It also gives readers a chance to name the cub, thought to be female.

"We're getting 15 e-mails with name suggestions every minute," city spokesman Robert Hackner said. "This afternoon we received over 1,000 suggestion for a name."

But for now, zoo keepers have dubbed the cub Flocke -- German for flake, as in snow flake -- because of its brilliantly white and fluffy fur.

On Wednesday, the zoo said that keepers decided to take the cub away from its mother, Vera, because the mother was showing signs of being upset and confused, taking her baby in and out of the animals' enclosure.

Earlier this week, the zoo confirmed that its other female polar bear, Vilma, had eaten her two offspring. The zoo feared Vera would do the same, so it took her cub away as a precaution.

The story of the cub follows the case last year of Knut, a male cub from the Berlin Zoo, who was abandoned by his mother shortly after his birth in December 2006.

Knut quickly became the focus of a media frenzy and delighted thousands of visitors to Berlin's zoo. Its official logo has earned over 14 million U.S. dollars for the Berlin Zoo and has been used on a wide range of merchandise.

(Agencies)