A Siberian tiger glares into the lens as British photographer Jonathan Griffiths inches close to get his shot.
Jonathan Griffiths’ photos of endangered predators taken in a wildlife breeding preserve in remote Montana are stunning. Some of them are such extreme close-ups of such dangerous mammals that I’m very glad he had a guide standing by to monitor his animal interactions (presumably with a trank gun loaded for bear, literally).
The lion looks quite wrong in the snow, but the other animals look much more at home, and although for many of them it’s one or more ocean away from their native continent at least they are ranging the wild. Click through on the picture above to see the lot – there are wolves…and the American badger is gorgeous.
Siberian tigers and South China tiger are the most endangered tiger species in the world. In the wild they were fewer than three thousand, and their number is constantly decreasing. People hunt them for their fur and because of traditional Asian medicine. It would be a shame that these amazing animals are gone forever, and remain only in stories.