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The South China Tiger Essay

Decent Essays

The South China Tiger

As a result of “the South China Tiger [being] one of the most endangered tiger subspecies in the world” (State Forestry Administration, 2000) China implemented the China Action Plan For Saving the South China Tiger. China’s State Forestry Administration developed the plan because it was necessary to minimize the threat of extinction posed by humans to these tigers. Without intervention, the South China Tiger would go extinct.

Historically, “The South China Tiger was widely distributed, [its range area was about] 2000 kilometers from east to west and 1500 kilometers from north to south” (State Forestry Administration, 2000). What lead to the South China Tiger being classified as extinct was the ignorance …show more content…

The captive-bred South China Tiger population began at 40 in 1988 and expanded to 62 by June 2000. The problem with the breeding of tigers within the zoo is that “many were bred as the second, third or fourth generations from the same father tiger. Hereditary diseases appeared in captive bred tigers caused by…inbreeding” (State Forestry Administration, 2000). Below is further discussion about the dangers of inbreeding and the lack of genetic variability within a species.

The problems with a species having such a low number of individuals is that the genetic diversity of the species is limited. Therefore, interbreeding (as illustrated in the above paragraph) can pose a serious threat to the existing population of a species. As genetic diversity dwindles there is a lesser chance of that species being able to survive. A lower genetic diversity leads to an increased susceptibility to disease as well as a lessened diversity of gene combinations. Between thirty to eighty South China Tigers currently exist and with such a small number comes much concern as to the genetic viability of that species in the future (3). Thus, having less genetic material from which a species can draw,

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