South China Tiger is a wild cat of China. It is the rarest subspecies of Tigers.
One of the smaller tiger subspecies, the South China Tiger weighs
around three hundred and thirty pounds in case of males and two hundred
and forty pounds for females. Average length is eight feet for males
and seven and a half feet in case of females. Color is reddish orange
and underparts are white. The dark stripes are short and spaced
relatively broadly in comparison to other tigers. Tail appears to end
rather abruptly than taper off as in case of other tiger subspecies.
In
the past when South China Tigers were studied in the wild, they were
known to inhabit moist forests in rocky terrains. They used to hunt a
variety of prey species though predominant prey were probably
ungulates. Livestock were also reportedly taken at times and human
beings attacked by the big cats. They were nocturnal and perhaps
solitary cats. Their range was dense jungles of south-central China in
an area bordering different provinces.
Though various fragmented
reserves exist in the past range of South China Tiger no tiger has been
documented for decades in these parts. There are reports of paw prints,
hearing of roars and rare sightings but no solid proof exists that
tigers still inhabit the woods of a country that once was home to four
different subspecies of tigers. Experts believe that at the most there
could be twenty to thirty of the Amoy Tigers in the wild but fear these
too are on the brink of extinction owing to severe inbreeding.
Gestational
period for South Chinese Tigers is three and a half months following
which a litter of one to five cubs is born in the wild. The young begin
to accompany the mother on hunts at two months of age and learn hunting
at six months. They gain independence between one and one and a half
years of age.
