Zoogoers at a wildlife enclosure were stunned when they found a tiger cooling off inside a pond with only its head peeking out after they could not seem to spot the big cat all day.
The curious tourists were relieved when they learned one of the ferocious beasts in the enclosure had not somehow escaped and was instead simply escaping the heat at Shanghai Wildlife Park, in east-central China.
One visitor managed to film the tiger barely keeping its head above water, with its entire body submerged as it tried to keep cool.
It sat completely still inside the very corner of the pond while the other cats walked behind it to get closer into the shade.
The tiger looks ridiculously unbothered in the short video shared later on Douyin – China’s version of TikTok – as netizens joked by saying that it had decided to close down the viewing of its enclosure early.
The clip quickly racked up over 110,000 likes and some 19,000 comments, with many users hilariously comparing the animal to a crocodile.
A user titled ‘Beautiful girl warrior’ said: “I can see the impatience on its face.”
Another user named ‘The moon goes down the west building’ wrote: “Could he be playing hide and seek with other tigers?”
And ‘Yan Xiaokun’ commented: “Why don’t you turn on the air conditioner for Brother Tiger?”
Unlike domestic cats, tigers actually enjoy being in the water.
Because they are usually found living in hot environments, they are accustomed to often going into a river or lake to cool off.
Tigers also swim for pleasure and can sometimes be found relaxing in the water even when not on hot days.
