--- description: Tosca was nearly 30 years old title: Mother of Star Polar Bear Euthanized in Germany image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3b0cd25694b1da3c/6988581fa988ca705b6b32e2/tosca.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Mother of Star Polar Bear Euthanized in Germany by [Andy Eckardt/NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Andy Eckardt/NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 24, 2015 11:38 AM CUT  Polar bear Tosca,the mother of the zoo's famous four-year-old polar bear Knut, shakes off water at Berlin Zoo in 2011. Polar bear Tosca,the mother of the zoo's famous four-year-old polar bear Knut, shakes off water at Berlin Zoo in 2011.Kay Nietfield—EPA by [Andy Eckardt/NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## Andy Eckardt/NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 24, 2015 11:38 AM CUT MAINZ, Germany—The mother of Germany’s star polar bear, Knut, was euthanized at the Berlin Zoo Tuesday after animal welfare experts concluded that the aging animal was suffering. Born in Canada in 1986 and formerly held by communist East Germany’s state circus, Tosca was nearly 30 years old. “The average polar bear age is between 25 and 30 years, she was very, very old,” zoo spokeswoman Christiane Reiss told NBC News. “Tosca’s behavior has drastically deteriorated in recent weeks. She is blind, deaf and cannot find her food,” the zoo wrote on its Facebook page after a decision was made [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/polar-bear-knuts-aging-mom-tosca-put-rest-berlin-zoo-n380766?cid=par-time-article%5F20150624 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3933551/knut-tosca-polar-bear-euthanized/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3933551/knut-tosca-polar-bear-euthanized/"},"headline":"Mother of Star Polar Bear Euthanized in Germany","datePublished":"2015-06-24T11:38:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T08:28:39.137Z","description":"Tosca was nearly 30 years old","url":"https://time.com/3933551/knut-tosca-polar-bear-euthanized/","keywords":["Germany"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3b0cd25694b1da3c/6988581fa988ca705b6b32e2/tosca.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Andy Eckardt/NBC News"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3b0cd25694b1da3c/6988581fa988ca705b6b32e2/tosca.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Polar bear Tosca","caption":"Polar bear Tosca","creditText":"Kay Nietfield—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3933551/knut-tosca-polar-bear-euthanized/","name":"Mother of Star Polar Bear Euthanized in Germany"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Sights And Sounds Of The Solar System","description":"NASA's Deep Space Network has been receiving images and sounds from space probes for 50 years.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/35PDyDwj/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-01-06T15:17:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/35PDyDwj.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3933551/knut-tosca-polar-bear-euthanized/","duration":"PT3M47S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3933551/knut-tosca-polar-bear-euthanized/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```