Guizhou zoo welcomes its new South China tiger cub

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Guiyang Forest Wild Life Zoo successfully propagated a South China tiger cub on Saturday, the first time in 40 years.

The newborn cub is female tiger Meng Meng’s firstborn. It was weak and thin at birth, weighing 750 grams. At present, the cub is in good health.

South China tiger cub in Guangzhou./VCG Photo

South China tiger has been listed as “critically endangered” on the IUCN Red List since 1996 and was last seen in the wild in the early 1970s. Indigenous to China, it used to live across the country. However, the wild population has sharply shrunk since the 1950s, due to the loss of habitat as well as poaching. So far, more than 100 tigers are alive, dwelling in zoos or breeding bases.

Guizhou, where the last wild South China tiger disappeared, set up the country's first breeding base for the species in the 1960s, with only 12 local wild tigers, according to the provincial wildlife administration.

South China tiger./VCG Photo

From 1963 to 1970, about 60 cubs were born at the base, with more than 30 surviving. In 2005, Lin Lin, the last South China tiger at the breeding base died aged 30.

In 2009, Guiyang Forest Wild Life Zoo introduced four South China tigers from Shanghai and two cubs were born in 2014, one of which is the newborn's father.

(With input from Xinhua)