Ary Borges feeds his tiger named Dan at his home in Maringa, Brazil, Thursday, September 26, 2013. Borges is in a legal battle with federal wildlife officials to keep his endangered animals from undergoing vasectomies and being taken away from him. He defends his right to breed the animals and says he gives them a better home than they might find elsewhere in Brazil. (Photo by Renata Brito/AP Photo)

In this Sunday, March 29, 2015 photo, a young performer from the Parinacochas district of Ayacuhco dances in the Vencedores de Ayacucho dance festival, in the Acho bullring in Lima, Peru. The performers sang in the Quechua language, portraying the planting of corn and potatoes. From very young children to elderly people dressed as farmers, tigers, and foxes, as well as members of auto-defense groups, soldiers and police officers, to portray the violence that tore apart their families and communities. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

An Indian white tiger cools off in a pond in its enclosure at Chhat Bir Zoo on the outskirts of Chandigarh on May 22, 2016. Temperatures have soared to a scorching 51 degrees Celsius in one Indian city, meteorologists said, with the ferocious heat setting a new national record. Northern Phalodi wilted as the mercury reached a new high on May 20, equivalent to 123.8 Fahrenheit, beating a 60-year-old record. (Photo by Shammi Mehra/AFP Photo)

Chinese models with animal-themed body paintings pose during a campaign for animal protection at Sanya Color Zoo in Sanya city, south China's Hainan province, 10 January 2016. The girls wearing strapless bras and short pants only were colored with animal-themed paintings such as zebra, cheetah, tiger and peacock. They paraded throughout the newly-opened Sanya Color Zoo and met visitors to take pictures, causing envies from netizens living in north China who are suffering chills. (Photo by Imaginechina/Splash News)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.

“This cheeky polar bear tried to hitch a lift off an unsuspecting driver by clambering into the back of his pick-up truck. The curious creature spent about half an hour inspecting the vehicle and its owner before casually trying to climb aboard. However, the truck must not have been up to scratch because the 7ft bear, weighing approximately 300lbs, promptly jumped back out and sauntered off”. – Barcroft Media. Photo: “Awright mate, any chance of a lift to the North Pole?” (Photo by Steven Kazlowski/Barcroft Media)

In this undated handout photograph from the “Inside Out Project”, a poster bearing the image of a Pakistani girl whose parents, lawyers say, were killed in a drone strike, lies in a field at an undisclosed location in the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. A group of artists in Pakistan are hoping to generate “empathy” among US drone operators by placing giant posters of children in the country's troubled tribal regions. (Photo by AFP Photo)

Young Japanese women pose with a green bear costumed person during the 'Earth Parade 2015' in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, November 28, 2015. Ahead of the U.N. climate change summit in Paris starting this week, about 1,000 citizens and environmental activists took to the streets of Tokyo on Saturday, calling for strong actions to combat global warming. (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA)