A lonely tiger cub lets out a big yawn as he doesnt have a care in the world but this 3 month old cub may just be the endangered South China Tiger's last hope.
Born at the Suzhou South China Tiger Breeding Base in Suzhou, China, the cute tiger was the only surviving cub of the South China Tiger multiple births that the base has bred in the past four years.
In the rugged hills of southern China, conservationists are battling to save the critically endangered South China tiger, an initiative given extra impetus as Chinese celebrate the Year of the Tiger.
Once widespread across China, even roaming down to densely populated areas like Hong Kong into the 1940s, South China tigers have been steadily decimated by mass deforestation, poaching and "anti-pest" campaigns instigated by Chairman Mao Zedong from the 1950s to rid the countryside of the cattle-raiding "vermin".
While sporadic sightings, including hoaxes, are reported in the mountainous borderlands of China's rapidly developing provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi, none have been seen or captured in the wild for the past 30 years or so.
All that remain are around 90 captive specimens, derived from just six wild-caught founders in the 1950s. The last of their kind, these tigers have nevertheless suffered from low genetic diversity, dismal caged conditions and a tainted lineage from hybridisation with other tiger subspecies.
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