South China Tigers born

So far it has been an excellent year for South China tigers throughout the world. With it being the Chinese Year of the tiger, the Chinese government seem to have opened their eyes to the possibility that maybe this could be the LAST year of their iconic and greatest beast. Quite a few articles have been published recently, some links below.

Clock ticks for South China tigers in symbolic year | Reuters

BERNAMA - Exclusive: Year Of Tiger Rallies Efforts To Save Endangered Tigers

In further good news for the captive population, twin female SC Tiger cubs were born at Shanghai zoo in late January.
Bolstered zoo breeds due soon for view -- Shanghai Daily | ???? -- English Window to China New

Probably the most promising news is that Save China's Tigers have plans to release at least some of their tigers back into the wild in the later part of this year, to celebrate the year of the tiger. And as they soon say goodbye to the older cubs, it is likely they will soon be welcoming new cubs. Although ''327's cub sadly died late last year, he has since mated with both ''Cathay'' AND ''Madonna''! If both females have taken, they should be due in April/May :)

TigerLi Blog

The Critically Endangered South China Tiger Roars Again in 2010, the Chinese Year of the Tiger

Things are looking good for the ''already extinct'' South China Tiger ;)
 
JonnyS18 said:
So far it has been an excellent year for South China tigers throughout the world. With it being the Chinese Year of the tiger, the Chinese government seem to have opened their eyes to the possibility that maybe this could be the LAST year of their iconic and greatest beast. Quite a few articles have been published recently, some links below.

Clock ticks for South China tigers in symbolic year | Reuters

BERNAMA - Exclusive: Year Of Tiger Rallies Efforts To Save Endangered Tigers

In further good news for the captive population, twin female SC Tiger cubs were born at Shanghai zoo in late January.
Bolstered zoo breeds due soon for view -- Shanghai Daily | ???? -- English Window to China New

Probably the most promising news is that Save China's Tigers have plans to release at least some of their tigers back into the wild in the later part of this year, to celebrate the year of the tiger. And as they soon say goodbye to the older cubs, it is likely they will soon be welcoming new cubs. Although ''327's cub sadly died late last year, he has since mated with both ''Cathay'' AND ''Madonna''! If both females have taken, they should be due in April/May :)

TigerLi Blog

The Critically Endangered South China Tiger Roars Again in 2010, the Chinese Year of the Tiger

Things are looking good for the ''already extinct'' South China Tiger ;)
Click to expand...

There is another--in my opinion far more rational--effort afoot to save the SC Tiger. Both the methodology of breeding and the putative "re-wilding" of a very small gene pool of tigers in a totally unnatural habitat seem like expensive distractions compared to this science-based effort:

Tale of the Cat - TIME
 
This is fantastic news! Yes I do hope that the subspecies isn't extinct in the near future.
I want China to still have Tigers as we don't need two entinct animals on the zodiac ( the other being the dragon)


JonnyS18 said:
So far it has been an excellent year for South China tigers throughout the world. With it being the Chinese Year of the tiger,
Click to expand...

Next year is the year of the Rabbit I do hope there isn't a population boom we don't need anymore.
And the year after is the year of the Dragon wonder what that will bring! ;)
 
I clicked the Time magazine link, on on there is another link to "10 animals facing extinction" and sure enough, there's a wrong photo with one of the animals.

The more you learn about the world, the less you start trusting journalists...
 
reduakari said:
There is another--in my opinion far more rational--effort afoot to save the SC Tiger. Both the methodology of breeding and the putative "re-wilding" of a very small gene pool of tigers in a totally unnatural habitat seem like expensive distractions compared to this science-based effort:

Tale of the Cat - TIME
Click to expand...

This does sound promising, & if it happens it will be a huge success not just for SC Tigers, but for endangered predators all over the world, deemed ''too captive'' to be released. However the article does state that these more ''rational scienced based efforts'' could take at least ten years before they go into effect. Thats IF this project does indeed work. Personally I would rather see the South China Tiger returned to the wild in a matter of months as a result of the rash & ridiculously expensive efforts made by Li Quan and her team. But thats just me :)

[/QUOTE] Next year is the year of the Rabbit I do hope there isn't a population boom we don't need anymore.
And the year after is the year of the Dragon wonder what that will bring![/QUOTE]
Haha i agree! Seriously though its a shame it takes an 'iconic' year before the government starts to give a crap. Ten years ago China practically gived up on the China Tiger, when Li Quan started her project ten years ago conservationists pretty much just laughed at her. Now that they've witnessed that the project has thus far been a success, do they realise that its still not too late for the tiger. Im glad that the tiger is finally getting the publicity they need, however it is a shame it took this long.
 
Hand rearing favors

Pertinax said:
I'm wondering if these four tiger cubs featured in the article are being raised by their mothers or handreared? It does not say anything about that. They may have been removed just for the photos of course, but rather like the Giant Pandas, the Chinese seem very keen to handraise rare species, which actually is not doing them any favours for future socialisation.

Perhaps these cubs or some of them will be sent to the South African project, which despite its unorthodox approach, does seem to be yielding positive results now with nine tigers in all.
Click to expand...

What exactly is the problem with socialisation and hand rearing? There are hoards of captive tigers that breed and do quite nicely in captivity that have been hand reared.
 
When tigers in chinese zoos dies because of lack of food (and even attack each other because of that) it doesn't matter much that some cubs are borned :(
 
ptig said:
What exactly is the problem with socialisation and hand rearing? There are hoards of captive tigers that breed and do quite nicely in captivity that have been hand reared.
Click to expand...

In my opinion hand rearing isn't a huge problem in most cases. On the contrary i think the chinese 'hand-on approach' with their giant pandas has had a great deal to do with the success of breeding them. I also agree that many tigers/big cats in general do live happier lives in captivity when they are more socialized towards human beings. But with the case of the South China Tiger, because they are so critcally endangered & there are currently none in the wild; i think the best way of helping this species as a whole, would be to raise them as they have been raised at the Save China's tigers Foundation. That way they can be returned to the wild. When it comes to Rewilding projects i think that the less hands on approach the better. With dealing with captive ambassador tigers who are destined for a life in captivity maybe handrearing could be a better way. But that is debateable. the SCT foundation breifly hand reared one of it's tiger cubs 'Hulooo' & to this very day two years on he still tends to be 'overly friendly' towards human beings which could effect the decision to release him into the wild at all...
 
I have absolutely no illusion that any of these tigers will be released into the wild. Just will not happen. Giving them the best captive life available would be a good outcome

I am also not saying that people should hand rear without the proper knowledge or situation.
 
ptig said:
I have absolutely no illusion that any of these tigers will be released into the wild. Just will not happen.
Click to expand...

Care to elaborate on that statement?
Don't get me wrong I'm not naive, this project does have a lot of factors against it, but that doesn't mean it can't succeed. Up until five years ago, it was ridiculous to conceive a captive bred tiger regaining the ability to hunt. Ten years ago the south china tiger was predicted to be extinct by 2010, along with the entire population of wild tigers throughout all of Asia.
People making drastic accusations based solely on their own biased opinions isn't going to help save tigers. People standing up against criticism and against 'the odds' & actually trying to do something is what gives these animals a chance. & even if they are never returned to China, i have full confidence that these tigers in South Africa will lead a much healthier & better lifestyle than any captive tigers in Chinese zoos.
 
Jonny- Of course the captive bred animals in South Africa should have a quality life, hopefully. There has never been any doubt that captive tigers could hunt. What are you referring to? Certainly tigers that live in a wild environment and taught by their mother to hunt would probably be more efficient.

All opinions are "biased" by their nature. The future of tigers is really in the hand of in situ programs. Captive tigers have the ability to raise funds and awareness and should be utilized for this.

There may or may not be any South China tigers left in the wild.
 
It's been widely speculated that captive born predators are incapable of regaining hunting skills. In the case of tigers, dozens of generations have been born to live their whole lives in small enclosures & given little enrichment compared to what they would find living in the wild. Many conservationists have said that this may have a lasting effect, & pretty much anyone who tried ''rewilding' a captive predator was laughed at & accused of wasting money. The example i was making was really, you can't really predict what can & can't be achieved.
Tigers have been in captivity for hundreds of years now, we're now in the year 2010 & the wild population is lower than ever & still rapidly decreasing. Funds & awareness doesn't appear to be working well enough or fast enough. I think maybe its time to try some different methods before it's too late.
I'm sure there are either very few SC Tigers left in the wild or none at all. I meant the entire wild population of tigers was predicted to be extinct by this year, & although its not far from the truth, there's still at least 1000 tigers clinging on in the wild.
 
Wild tigers

There are certainly more than 1000, but probably not more than about 4000. Even if you were able to condition some captive tigers to be able to survive in the wild, without human involvement the numbers would be prohibitive and the resources huge for little to no effect.

The only way tigers will continue to exist in 100 years would be for a rapid cessation of loss of habitat and almost zero poaching. The money applied worldwide is still a pittance. Captive animals, in my humble opinion, are there to raise money to support the work. Again in my opinion large scale release is doubtful to be an option.
 
According to the most recent census, there's fewer than 2000 tigers living in the wild, but i guess no-one really knows the true number..
To be honest, i doubt wild tigers will ever thrive again under the current circumstances. Even if tomorrow all poachers were captured and thousands of villagers were relocated to create more room for tigers, tiger & human conflict would never be resolved. Maybe the only way to maintain a healthy eco-system and to keep both top predators human/tiger happy, is to do what has already been done in South Africa; fence off vast amounts of land & keep man & beast separate.
It would end conflict between the two species, it would also be brilliant for tourism, as humans could view tigers in their natural habitat & tigers could live their lives naturally without living in fear of humans. Rangers could also be in charge of the upkeep on the parks i.e. relocating tigers to minimize overpopulation, inbreeding etc: Reserves like this have already been done in Africa with lions & it seems to be working brilliantly.
A major consequence of this would of course be that the predators are still 'captive' in a sense that they still live behind a fence, however i think its a far better alternative to living in the 'true' wild & becoming extinct, or living in 'true' captivity unable to be the majestic predators that they are.
I agree, it would be a huge loss & rather pointless if the tigers born in South Africa were sent back to China, released into the wild, then shot by poachers or by farmers etc: They'd be far better off where they are now.
 
According to the most recent SCT blog, Cathay is due to give birth on the 20th of April! So i'll keep you updated throughout next week :)
Madonna hasn't come back into oestrus since mating with '327' so is therefore pregnant & should deliver the first week of May.
:D
 
Pregnancies

Well FINALLY after three weeks of anticipation, we now know what has become of 'Cathay' & 'Madonna's' respective pregnancies. The full story can be found below, however the long & short of the story is that 'Cathay' was thought to have had still born cubs & eaten them soon after birth, & 'Madonna' may have had either a false pregnancy or a miscarriage.
Dissapointing to say the least but also not hugely surprising for a critically endangered species with a limited gene pool. Unsuccessful pregnancies are highly common within captive south china tigers.
A shread of good news on the subject is that 'Madonna' mated with '327' again on the 2nd of May so hopefully she has taken this time, & '327' will be a successful father.

TigerLi Blog

SPECIAL REPORT ON CATHAY AND MADONNA?S ANTICIPATED BIRTHS | Save China's Tigers
 
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