His mother may have abandoned him after birth in 2006, but Germans welcomed him with open arms during his four years of life at the Berlin Zoo. Knut’s celebrity accounted for record attendance and revenues, reportedly generating an estimated $140 million in global business, mostly between 2007 and 2009 when he was a cuddly-looking cub, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Even renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz photographed him for a 2007 Vanity Fair cover. Knut died suddenly in 2011 when he collapsed from a brain swelling and drowned in his enclosure. The Berlin Zoo erected a bronze statue in his likeness so fans could pay their respects.