On a hot August day, ‘Ah-Biao’ the liger (half lion, half tiger) celebrated his 12th birthday at the NPUST Wildlife Rescue Center along with summer interns who organized a birthday party for the giant feline. With everyone dividing up the preparatory work, the team made sure that this year’s celebration would outdo those of previous years; with posters, a cake, and gifts to boot.
The lion’s share of birthday party responsibilities was entrusted a student intern surnamed Wang from the research and education group. Wang has gained a lot of experience in implementing large-scale activities during her studies—and from the pre-production briefing and staff discussions, to the actual implementation, it all went down without a hitch.
For the birthday decorations, Wang personally drew a bright-eyed, elegantly dressed liger-man on a large poster to add to the atmosphere. In the poster, the Chinese character for “tiger” (彪) was cleverly modified so that the bottom half depicts the ligers age of “12”. A special gift box was also made out of cardboard and given to the liger to tear open – adding yet another integral element to the birthday experience.
To satisfy the ligers taste, a special meat cake was prepared by the “Carnivore Team”. The multi-layer ice cake, made with blood at different concentrations to create color, was adorned with the birthday-boy’s favorite carnivorous trappings: chicken, beef, meatballs and eggs. Yilin Tsai, who was part of the cake preparation team, expressed full confidence that the liger would enjoy the treat –and sure enough, Ah Biao did not disappoint. Beginning with the top layer of ground beef, the cat worked his way down, slowly enjoying each cool lick of the frosty treat on the hot day.
The lifespan of most giant felines is between 10 and 15 years; however, ligers are not a natural variety. And so, based on an average of lions’ and a tigers’ life expectancies, Ah-Biao is considered to be in his prime. Yet, with the genetic defect of his hind leg, as time goes on, extra attention will have to be given to his physical health. The team at NPUST is ready for the responsibility, though. And their dedication to the well-being of their big furry friend was seen by the extra care they gave to detail as the celebrated 12 years of Ah-Biao.
