The longest-lived feline that lives in Terra Natura Benidorm celebrated his twentieth birthday today at the facilities of this nature and animal park, dedicated to the conservation of biodiversity and its dissemination. Alonso, name of this Asian tiger (Panthera tigris), has opened gift boxes around its facility made by his keepers so he could discover them little by little.

Inside these original boxes, pieces of meat have been placed to attract and arouse, through smell, the attention of this great feline, which today reaches two decades of life, thus exceeding the average lifespan of this species in a wild state, which is around 12 or 15 years old. There are known cases of this species that in a non-wild state have lived up to 25 years.

The Asian tiger is in danger of extinction according to the IUCN. Alonso is the oldest feline in the park and the ocelots follow him closely as they will also be 20 years old in June 2022. This tiger arrived at Terra Natura Benidorm in 2015 from the Aqualeón park in Tarragona.

This specimen joins the list of longest-living animals that live in Terra Natura Benidorm, along with other animals like the elephant Petita who will turn 50 years old in August, the elephant Momo who will turn 40 years old or the female capuchin monkey Mari who is turning 38 years old soon. Currently, the park has six specimens of tigers, five males and one female, living in two meadows.

A story of overcoming

Alonso was the first tiger successfully operated from a tumour in Spain. The tumour was located in the lower eyelid of his right eye in 2016. To carry out the surgery and transfer the tiger to the operating room was necessary 10 people, including veterinarians and zookeepers. Thanks to this surgery, Alonso was able to recover and go back to his normal life.