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South China Tiger
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The South China tiger or South Chinese tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis), also known as the Chinese, Amoy, or Xiamen tiger, is a subspecies of tiger native to the forests of Southern China. The South China tiger is one of the smaller and the most critically endangered of the living tiger subspecies. Experts maintain that there are fewer than 20 of these tigers left in the world, and warn that it might become extinct within the next decade.
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The South China tiger or South Chinese tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis), also known as the Chinese, Amoy, or Xiamen tiger, is a subspecies of tiger native to the forests of Southern China. The South China tiger is one of the smaller and the most critically endangered of the living tiger subspecies. Experts maintain that there are fewer than 20 of these tigers left in the world, and warn that it might become extinct within the next decade. One was recently born in a reserve in South Africa in November 2007, the first to be born outside China. In October 2007, the forestry department of Zhenping county, Shaanxi published photographs of P. t. amoyensis in its native habitat, but these were later debunked after an investigation. The South China tiger is considered to be the “stem” tiger, the subspecies from which all other tigers descended. The South China tiger has been recently listed as one of the world's 10 most endangered animals.
Physical characteristics
The South China tiger is one of the smallest tiger subspecies. Male tigers measure about 2.6 m (8 ft) from head to tail and weigh about 150 kg (330 lb). Female tigers are smaller, measuring about 2.3 m (7 1/2 ft) long. They weigh approximately 110 kilograms (240 pounds). This tiger is an estimated 2-6 ft tall. The short, broad stripes of the South China tiger are spaced far apart compared to those of Bengal and Amur tigers.
Diet
The South China tiger, like all other subspecies of tigers, are pure carnivores. The South China tiger prefers prey ranging between 30-400 lbs and have been known to eat livestock like cows and goats in the past when their population was much higher. They are expert hunters and will stalk and follow their prey for hours. South China tigers have an average speed of around 35mph, faster than most of its prey species, but they do not have enough stamina to maintain their top speed for long. These big cats kill their prey with a bite to the back of its neck (usually for medium-sized prey) or use the suffocation hold on the prey's throat (this is their preferred method of killing large-sized prey). South China tigers can feed on almost anything, from small insects to Gaurs. Many humans died from South China tiger attacks in the past and they have been known as man-eaters when their population was much higher.
Habitat
The South China tiger, Panthera tigris amoyensis, was formerly abundant in South China's temperate upland forests. Today its wide range has been reduced to three isolated areas in south-central China, where small and scattered populations are said to persist along the mountainous borders between provinces. As with the Black-footed Ferret, one of the biggest contributing factors to the South China tigers' dwindling population is the destruction of its prey base. Two other major factors that have contributed to the tiger’s decline are poaching and population fragmentation. South China tigers, like other tiger subspecies, live in dense jungles. South China tigers also love spending time in water, similar to other tiger subspecies.
Persecution and extinction
Until the beginning of the 20th century, the South China tiger was distributed in many parts of southern and eastern China. In 1959, Mao Zedong, in the time of the Great Leap Forward, declared the tiger and other predators such as leopards and wolves to be pests and “enemies of the people”; as a result, several “anti-pest” campaigns started. The tigers then were considered pests because they attacked farmers and villagers. Becoming widely persecuted, their wild population of the South China tiger fell from more than 4,000 to less than 200 by 1982. The Chinese government then reversed the classification of the tiger, banning hunting altogether in 1977, but this seems to have been too late. The South China tiger has not been seen in the wild for more than 20 years. Today the estimated population of the South Chinese subspecies is 20-30 individuals found only in the Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang. Tigers still found in southeast China belong to the Indochinese Tiger subspecies.
Conservation
Since 1990, China’s State Forestry Administration has been leading the effort to save the South China tiger through the establishment of special Nature reserves for the 10-30 Chinese tigers thought to be left in the wild. A 1987 field survey by Chinese scientists reported a few tigers remaining in the Guangdong mountains bordering Hunan and Jiangxi, and another survey in 1990 noted evidence of about a dozen tigers in 11 reserves in the remote mountains of Guangdong, Hunan, and Fujian Provinces of South China. No tigers were seen. The only evidence came from anecdotal stories of former hunters. China's few captive tigers are now part of a centrally registered studbook in an attempt to save this tiger from becoming the fourth tiger subspecies to become extinct in modern times. Before a studbook was established it was thought that this captive population was too small and lacking in genetic diversity for any repopulation program to be successful, but since the start of the central register more and more South China tigers have been identified in zoos across China fueling hope of the possible reestablishment of the South China tiger in the wild.
Rewilding Project in South Africa
The organization Save China's Tigers working with the Wildlife Research Centre of the State Forestry Administration of China and the Chinese Tigers South Africa Trust secured an agreement on the reintroduction of Chinese tigers into the wild. The agreement, which was signed in Beijing on November 26, 2002, calls for the establishment of a Chinese Tiger conservation model through the creation of a Pilot Reserve in China where indigenous wildlife including the South China tiger will be reintroduced. A number of Chinese tiger cubs will be selected from zoos in China and sent to a 300 square kilometer reserve near the town of Philippolis in South Africa where they will be taught to hunt for themselves, the offspring of the trained tigers will be released into the pilot reserves in China, and the trained tigers will continue to stay in South Africa to continue breeding. A second Chinese tiger rehabilitation project is also being run in Fujian, China. It is planned that in time, successfully rehabilitated South China tigers will be released into a Pilot Reserve in China. China will conduct the work of surveying land, restoring habitat and prey within the Pilot reserve. The first Chinese tigers are expected to be reintroduced into the wild to coincide with the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. The south china tiger was used as the model in Kung Fu Panda for Master Tigress she was the leader of the Furious Five.
Possible evidence of existing wild South China tigers
On October 5, 2007, a supposed South China Tiger attacked a cow and on September 13, a body of an Asiatic Black Bear possibly killed and eaten by a South China tiger was found, both in Zhen ping County.
On October 11, 2007, Zhenglong Zhou, a villager from Zhenping County in Ankang City, Shaanxi Province of China, claimed to have risked his life by taking more than thirty digital photographs of a tiger. The Shaanxi Provincial Forestry Bureau then held a press conference, backing up Zhou's claim. If true, this would be the first record since 1964 of South China tigers in the wild in Shaanxi Province's Qinba Mountains.
However, the photographs aroused suspicion, with many expressing doubts about the authenticity of the digital picture. A resident of Panzhihua discovered that the tiger poster on the wall of his home shared the same features as the tiger in Zhou's photos, including the details of the animal's stripes. The manufacturer of the poster was identified as the Yi Wei Si Poster and Packaging Company of Zhejiang province, who had published the image five years previously. In a statement issued on November 23, 2007, the Shaanxi Province Forestry Bureau said that they still "firmly believed" Wild South China tigers to exist in the province. Yet on February 4, 2008, the Shaanxi Province Forestry Bureau released an apology, qualifying their earlier statements but without repudiating the pictures' authenticity, saying "We curtly released the discovery of the South China tiger without substantial proof, which reflects our blundering manner and lax discipline." Nevertheless, the statement was not conclusive on whether the Bureau still stands by its view that the picture is genuine.
On June 29, 2008, the authorities had announced to the press that all pictures published were proven to be forged, and the related officers had been punished, or even removed from their posts. The photographer himself, Zhenglong Zhou, has been arrested for suspicion of fraud. This officially ended the South China tiger scandal, however, public concern about the corruption in Shaanxi Province Forestry Bureau and Shaanxi Government may still last. Many believe that Zhou is merely a puppet, and the local officers pursuing funds from the central government in the name of tiger research and preservation, as well as tourists' interest to the area are the real thread pullers.
Although the Shaanxi Government has officially declared the forgery, there are still some people believing Zhenglong Zhou risked his life and found the evidence of live South China Tiger. Liyuan Liu, an associate professor in the College of Life Science, Beijing Normal University, said that he would never believe the photographs were fake even if he would be killed. He also illustrated that Zhenglong Zhou could not take the photos of the footprints using the props retained by the Shaanxi Police. The source of the poster is also suspicious. The manufacturer said that the poster was produced in no earlier than July, 2002 while the first person who claimed to find the poster told the medium that it was bought before the Spring Festival in 2001. Moreover, there are many evidences that the tiger in Zhou's photos was moving. In other words, it is difficult to make tens of photos from a single static poster. However, the Chinese news media didn't pursue the investigation of the truth of the poster and the props.
See also
Other sources
- Qiu-Hong Wan et al.:Use of oligonucleotide fingerprinting and faecal DNA in identifying the distribution of the Chinese tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis Hilzheimer). Biodiversity and Conservation, Springer Netherlands, Volume 12, Number 8 / August, 2003.
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