China News Service, Shaoguan, April 9 (Cheng Jingwei and Jiang Min) The South China Tiger Provincial Nature Reserve in northern Guangdong held a meeting on the 100th birthday of "twins" South China tigers on April 9.
According to reports, the "twin" South China tiger sisters have grown from less than 1 kilogram at birth to more than 10 kilograms now and are in good health.
"Since they were born, the two little guys have lived together, inseparable, and get along well." Breeder Lei Shengqiao said: "The twin South China tigers began to be fed meat when they were more than 50 days old, and by the time they were more than 80 days old, they were completely complete. Weaning, they've grown very well over the past 100 days in terms of eating, activity, bowel movements, etc."
Photo by the breeder and two little tigers Jiang Min
At this meeting, the names of the "twins" of the South China Tigers were officially announced.
The two cubs officially entered the South China Tiger "kindergarten" on the same day.
The South China tiger is a subspecies endemic to China and is listed as the top ten critically endangered species in the world. At present, there are only more than 250 South China tigers in the world, which are far more endangered than the giant panda.
Shaoguan is the original habitat of the South China tiger. In order to protect this important resource, the Guangdong Provincial People's Government approved the establishment of the South China Tiger Provincial Nature Reserve in Shaoguan in 1990, with the South China tiger species as the protection object.
As the population of South China tigers in the wild is declining, the reserve established the South China Tiger Breeding Research Base in 2008, adopted ex situ protection measures of artificial breeding, carried out in-depth breeding research, and continuously expanded the number of species.
On the evening of December 31, 2021, a South China tiger mother "Mengmeng" at the South China Tiger Breeding Research Base successfully gave birth to two South China tiger cubs.
The birth of these two South China tigers marks that the base has set a record of "three births and four cubs a year". The number of South China tigers in the base has grown from 2 at the time of its establishment to 13 at present.
According to reports, at present, the Guangdong South China Tiger Provincial Nature Reserve plans to establish a South China tiger breeding base with an area of about 5,000 mu.
Two cubs live in the South China Tiger "kindergarten" photo by Jiang Min
Guangdong South China Tiger Provincial Nature Reserve is within the scope of Nanling National Park, which Guangdong continues to promote.
With the advancement of the construction of Nanling National Park, the breeding of South China tigers will gain broader development space in the future.
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