科技英语新闻:Autopsy starts on star polar bear Knut

BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhuanet) -- An autopsy began Monday on Berlin zoo's superstar polar bear Knut who died suddenly on Saturday, media reports said.

However, it remained unclear when the results from the post-mortem examination of Knut would be published.

"I cannot give you a timeline. We will inform the public when we know what the exact cause was," AFP quoted spokeswoman Claudia Bienek as saying.

Knut died while sunbathing at Berlin zoo in Germany in front of visitors. The four-year-old swivelled around several times before falling backwards into the water in his enclosure.

Witnesses said he suffered a series of convulsions and appeared to have had an epileptic fit or a heart attack.

Knut was born in 2006 to a female bear who rejected him at birth. He was hand-raised by his keeper at the zoo. Films were made about him and he appeared on the front cover of Vanity Fair magazine and earned the zoo about 7.11 million U.S. dollars.

More than 15,000 Knut fans have so far paid tribute to him on Berlin zoo's website. Hundreds more have flocked to the zoo in person to lay flowers at his enclosure.