Knut and Friends

The world’s most famous animal orphan comes to Eden, with a brand new and exclusive documentary telling the full, emotional story of Knut the polar bear and his extraordinary young life.

Born in captivity, baby Knut was rejected by his mother at birth. Raised by zookeepers, he was the first polar bear cub to survive past infancy at Berlin Zoo for more than 30 years. Because of his emotional story and remarkable upbringing, he became an instant media sensation when he was finally unveiled to the global public three months later.

This documentary follows the first year of baby Knut’s life, and provides an intimate portrait of not only the baby polar bear himself (everything from his first steps to swimming lessons) but also the touching bind that developed between Knut and his keeper and surrogate parent, Thomas Dörflein.

The film also compares Knut’s situation with two polar bear families from the wild. The first belongs to Maidu, a female polar bear who has just given birth to triplets, in a den beneath the arctic snow. The second family is two orphaned brown bears, only 5 months old, learning to fend for themselves after the death of their mother in the forests of Belarus.