Nika

A couple of weeks ago I visited Howlett's Wild Animal Park where, with my new iPad, I managed to take some great footage of the Siberian tiger,

Nika. Sadly, though the iPad shows the film the right way up, because I took it in what the contraption obviously believes to be the wrong way round, when I emailed it to myself it came out upside down. I've rotated it in several different ways in different programmes, and have finally managed to get it on the aforesaid Botophucket in a format fit to show.

Nika is on her own now. Her mate Malchek, probably the biggest tiger there ever was, died a few years back.

The park seems to be concentrating on breeding gorillas and other primates, as well as elephants and rhino. I know this is much needed conservation, but for me, the tigers are the be-all and end-all.

Anyway, Nika was in a bad mood. Her dinner was four hours late. Apparently she hated the sight of the keeper anyway, and from the start her ears went back and she left him in no doubt of her feelings towards him.

Just after she went through the slide into the area where dinner was waiting, she jumped up to her full height, and you can tell from seeing her beside the keeper's shoulder she must be at least 7 feet tall at full stretch.

Wow.