Vive le Quebec tigre

It's not always easy being a francophone in Alberta, and that even goes for a 136-kilogram Siberian tiger named Boris.

When the seven-year-old tiger arrived at Edmonton's Valley Zoo from a Montreal-area zoo last year, zookeepers found him to be shy and even standoffish.

Then they quickly figured out the problem – the massive cat missed hearing his “mother tongue”: French.

“I'm not sure if he understands what's being said or is just responding to the language, but he likes to be talked to in French,” said Ginette Heppelle, the only French-speaking zookeeper at Edmonton's zoo. “I think he misses it.”