PREVIEW

BY MARK WORGAN

Edinburgh Zoo is celebrating Scotland’s grumpiest feline - Akiko - on International Pallas's Cat Day on Thursday.

The country’s only member of the species has been ‘enjoying’ the Spring sun in his habitat - even if his expression says otherwise.

Akiko moved to the Edinburgh Zoo in 2004 and, though he has barely smiled, he has been a visitor favourite ever since.

He is part of a European breeding program to boost the population of Pallas's Cats, which are native to rocky regions of the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Don’t worry, he’s not in a foul mood. This is just a Pallas’s Cat’s normal expression. Perhaps, if enough people at the zoo wish him a happy International Pallas's Cat Day on Thursday, he might raise a smile. For once.