The news has added fuel to the debate over just how much greenhouse gases are to blame for global warming. However, the scientists say the large rise in temperatures over the past few decades cannot be explained using the solar theory alone. What's happening in the past 20 years has been hard to say. It seems as though the temperature is rising faster than the solar theory can account for. The world's biggest cat, the rare Siberian tiger, is facing a new threat.
Siberian tigers are usually extremely shy.
Even staff of the anti-poaching unit in Khabarovsk Territory can only boast of one or two encounters with the animals they guard. But unusually low temperatures in the tiger's natural habitat in eastern Siberia and north-eastern China this winter have led to a reduction in stocks of reindeer and wild boar, a staple of its diet. This has driven the tigers even closer to populated areas, where they are at risk from poachers. Tiger skins can be worth tens of thousands of dollars, while the animal's internal organs and bones are prized ingredients in oriental medicine.