Germany's celebrity polar bear Knut died from drowning after collapsing due to swelling of his brain and falling into his enclosure's pool, experts say.
Pathologist Claudia Szentiks said today that a post mortem on the four-year-old bear who died suddenly two weeks ago showed he was suffering from encephalitis, an irritation and swelling of the brain that was likely brought on by an infection.
Knut died on March 19 in front of visitors at Berlin zoo, turning around several times and then falling into the water in his enclosure. Polar bears usually live 15 to 20 years in the wild and even longer in captivity.
Knut was rejected by his mother at birth and hand-raised by a zookeeper, catching the world's attention as an irresistibly cute fluffy cub.
He generated millions of pounds of extra income for the zoo.