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Knut Gets an Italian girlfriend Gianna at the Berlin Zoo

by Amy Judd | September 8, 2009 at 03:23 pm

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Knut the polar bear, arguably the most famous polar bear in the world, is finally going to get some love, well hopefully anyway.

His new girlfriend, Gianna, from a zoo in Italy, arrived at the Berlin Zoo today as a potential mate for Knut.

The bears will live on opposite sides of a 'canoodling' fence for now but keepers hope that eventually they will show interest in each other and want to mate with each other. However, the bears will not sexually mature for two more years.

Gianna is a three-year-old polar bear, named after the Italian rock star Gianna Nannini, but she has already previously rejected other mates, so she may not go for Knut.

Knut drew an outpouring of sympathy around the globe after it was rejected by its mother and hand-reared by a keeper. Because Knut has not encountered other polar bears since early childhood, special measures will be put in place to ensure the meeting runs smoothly.

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