Newborn cub of endangered South China tiger subspecies benefits from better protection 

(PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)

A2-month-old male cub patrols his “territory” at the South China Tiger Breeding Center in Shaoguan, Guangdong province.

Weighing 850 grams when he was born on July 21, the son of mother Mengmeng and father Xiaoman was in good health.

He joins the center’s family of 13 South China tigers, comprising six females and eight males, up from only two such tigers when the center was founded in 2008.

South China tigers are the smallest and rarest of all extant tiger subspecies, with only 246 in captivity across the country as of 2021.

(PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)

A native species, the South China tiger once inhabited a vast area of southern China. In the early 1950s, there were about 10,000 South China tigers, but the animals have not been spotted in the wild since the 1990s as their numbers thinned, the result of hunting and environmental damage.

In 1990, the South China Tiger Nature Reserve was established in northern Guangdong to provide protection to the big cats. It has been upgrading the facilities and working to create a 333-hectare space focusing on breeding and reintroducing tigers to the wild.

Li Wenfang contributed to the story.

(PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)

(PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)

(PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)

(PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)

(PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)