Photos that went viral of tubby Siberian tigers at a Chinese zoo have sparked concern among animal welfare organisations after state media said it was “natural” for the animals to pile on the weight for winter.
Images of a group of the obese-looking Siberian tigers lolling around in the state-run Siberian Tiger Park in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, went viral online recently with many social media users joking that the caged cats had, like them, been too well fed over the Lunar New Year holiday.
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Bowen lion theory has gone to the dogs
This feline's footprint is a whopping 11cm long and was discovered by workers in a small gully near Mt Luse, north of Abbot Point.
THE mystery “cat” stalking Bowen is actually a dog, according to experts.
Juru Enterprises workers were left baffled by an 11cm paw print discovered north of Abbot Point last week, believing it belonged to a giant feral cat.
That sparked claims it could belong to a mountain lion, an animal extremely unlikely to be sighted in North Queensland.
But wildlife experts yesterday hosed down that claim, saying there were telltale signs that the print belonged to a member of the canine species, not feline. “Given the claw imprints I suspect a dog. Cats generally don’t leave claw marks,” James Cook University animal expert Professor Andrew Krockenberger said.
James Cook University PhD student in dingo ecology Damian Morrant confirmed the track was from a dog, not a mountain cat.
“I’d be thrilled if they were from a big cat,” he said.
“But I agree with Andrew; they’re dog tracks.
“Also the rear pad of the foot on a cat has three distinct lobes, with a slight indentation at the front.
“A dog has only two lobes and no indentation.
“Finally, the two front toes are ‘aligned’ in these tracks, whereas cat toes are not.
