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By Simon Jeffery / World news 05:05pm
Just days after Knut the polar bear cub warmed even the most satirical of hearts, tragedy has struck Berlin zoo with the death of the panda Yan Yan.
A dead panda is a bad thing. But that's not all. There are accusations in the German press that Knut was in part responsible, with the disruption from the visitors who crowded the zoo at the weekend leading to the 22-year-old's untimely demise.
As Germany's Spiegel Online (in English) puts it:
Some 30,000 people crowded the zoo at the weekend, several times more than usual, and many who couldn't get a glimpse of Knut went over to check out Yan Yan.
Following the worldwide success of Knut, whose first public appearance was witnessed by about 300 journalists from around the world and broadcast live on CNN, the death of Yan Yan marks something of an emotional rollercoaster for the zoo.
A polar bear is born, a panda dies. It seems somehow emblematic of the relative cultural values of the two bears. As the Chinese panda breeding programme achieves greater success and global warming puts polar bears under greater threat, it's the Arctic mammal that is becoming the environmental icon.
While the birth of a panda used to be enough to make the newspapers, the bar is now higher - the Times last month featured a three-legged specimen who needs a prosthetic paw if she is ever to have sex again.
As for Knut and Yan Yan, Berlin Zoo sensibly denies the accusations. After all, how could Knut ever do anything wrong?
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