Cross-eyed opossum is Facebook hit

Heidi the cross-eyed opossum is the latest creature to rocket from Germany's front pages to international recognition, with her bright, black eyes turned toward her pointed pink nose.

12:37, Wed, Jan 12, 2011

Heidi the cross eyed opossum has become a Facebook hit AP Heidi the cross-eyed opossum has become a Facebook hit (AP) [PA]

Since the first photographs were published last month, the animal from the Leipzig Zoo has attracted more Facebook followers than Chancellor Angela Merkel - more than 110,000.

Steffen Damm, a media professor at Berlin Free University, said humans cannot resist such "cute" animals, because they represent our lost innocence and "remind us of our lost connection to nature".

Heidi fills a hole on front pages left by the growing-up of Knut, Berlin's orphaned polar cub, and the death of Paul, the prescient octopus who correctly predicted the outcome of the 2010 World Cup.