Photo Gallery Knut Gets a Bad Toothache
Berlin Zoo officials reassured Knut fans on Tuesday that the polar bear celebrity is back on his paws after he had been feeling so poorly that worried vets cut short Monday's public viewing and took him back to his cage. The news that he wasn't doing well was reported around the world.
But on Tuesday, the four-month-old was back romping around, playing with his football and cuddly toy rabbit and trying to bite his keeper. Frisky as ever.
"It was only toothache," said a spokeswoman for the zoo. "He's growing a back tooth and it hurt him like it hurts most small children. He's playing again but his cheek is swollen." Knut's been given antibiotics and the vets say that big lump on his left cheek is no longer painful.
But Knut, seen here with his keeper Thomas Dörflein, still gets a bit snoozy.
On Monday, Knut was feeling so unwell that he just lay on the ground holding his big paws over his eyes.
He didn't even want to take a dip in the water around his enclosure, despite the warm spring weather.
Then he slept.
Before the pain kicked in, though, the little fluffy toddler awed the thousands of fans who came to see him at the zoo. Attendance at the zoo has nearly doubled to an average of 15,000 visitors each day since Knut went on view.
Apparently he loves the attention -- and he pays them back for their adoration with twice-daily one-hour appeances.
