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Traylor-Holzer, K.; Zhong, X.; Yuzhong, Y.
The struggle to save the last South China tigers
2010  Book Chapter

Mexican wolves. Przewalski horses. South China tigers. All taxa once driven to extinction in the wild but keeping a toehold on survival in zoos around the world. All subspecies for which genetic purity concerns and inbreeding effects have greatly impacted their management and survival. For Mexican wolves and Przewalski horses, as well as many other taxa, intensive cooperative management has enabled these animals to cross the critical threshold toward reproductive success and viability in captivity. Today, these captive populations provide animals for emerging reintroduction efforts. Will the same be said for the captive population of South China tigers in the coming decades, or will this subspecies follow the Bali, Javan and Caspian tigers into oblivion? The South China tiger holds a place of honor in China-as a cultural icon in art, literature, and philosophy, as a symbol of wilderness to promote a new conservation ethic amid an expanding human population, and as a source of national pride as the only uniquely Chinese tiger subspecies (Coggins, Chapter 34). It is now likely extinct in the wild (see Tilson and Nyhus, Chapter 35), and China's zoos are all that separate the South China tiger from total extinction. Based on a small founding population of only six successfully reproducing tigers (two males, four females) captured between 1958 and 1970, this captive population continues to face challenges in its struggle to remain viable.

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