Twilight – Siberian Tiger
Robert Bateman Hand Signed Limited Edition Print 18″ x 29.75″
Edition Size: 1350
“Night is the time of the tiger. He moves carefully and quietly through the blue world of late dusk in winter. Although it is misty he has no problem seeing. Because the snow makes a pale background, however, he can easily be seen in this open woodland by his prey species, the elk.
But there are greater difficulties facing this tiger and all of his wild brethren. The elk and other larger prey are becoming scarce. Since the fall of communism, game laws are barely enforced and weapons have proliferated. This also means that tigers are more easily killed for the illicit trade in tiger parts, marketed as oriental medicine. The other result of the advent of ‘capitalism’ is the rampant logging which is destroying the tiger’s habitat at an alarming rate.
More properly called the Amur tiger the range of the Siberian tiger is now restricted to the Amur-Ussuri River watershed. In 1900 there were approximately 100,000 of these majestic animals. In the year 2000 their numbers are estimated between 300 and 350 in the wild with twice that many in captivity.
I have painted this tiger almost vanished in the evening mists. I hope that present trends can be reversed before the wild population vanishes.” Robert Bateman
(From the original painting Twilight – Siberian Tiger – 1998 – 18″ x 29.875″ Oil on Board)
