HEFEI, April 2 (Bernama) — Six captive-bred Chinese alligators will be released into the wild in east China’s Anhui Province in June, according to Anhui Yangtze Alligator National Nature Reserve Administration.
The six Chinese alligators will be released in Gaojingmiao State Forest Farm of Langxi County in Anhui, Xinhua cited Wang Chaolin, director of the Nature Reserve Administration, as saying.
So far, 33 Chinese alligators have been released.
Yangtze Alligator National Nature Reserve was established in 1979 to increase the number of wild alligators through a breeding and release programme.
So far, the nature reserve had propagated more than 10,000 Chinese alligators and released 27 of them on five different occasions since 2003, Wang said.
The Chinese alligators, also known as Yangtze alligators, have lived in the Yangtze River areas for more than 230 million years.
An adult Chinese alligator measures about 2 meters in length. The reptile is nicknamed “living fossil” and is as rare as the giant panda.
The number of the Yangtze alligators living in the wild is estimated at 150. The Chinese government has put the reptile on the top of its protection list.
The Yangtze alligator is now safe from the threat of extinction, but is still listed as one of the most endangered creatures in the world.
China aims to raise the number in the wild from 350 to 400 by 2015.