kingdom: animalia
phylum:chordata
class:mammalia
order: carnivora
family:felidae
genus: panthera
Species: tigris
sub-species: AMOYENSIS

South China tigers (Panthera tigris amoyensis) are a reddish-yellow, with light underparts on its belly which do not come up to the flanks. Second smallest next to the Sumatran, males measure between 230cm to 261cm in length and females 220cm to 240cm, with the average weight for males 130kg to 175kg and females 100kg to 115kg.
Their primary diet includes cattle, deer and pigs. Gestation lasts about 103 days, after which an average of 2 to 3 cubs are born, maturing after 8 weeks to join their mother in hunting and hunting for themselves by the time they are 18 months old.
These rare and endangered tigers are found within Central and eastern China, and once along the Amoy coast, with their remaining numbers scattered in the forested areas. About 40 years ago there were believed to be over 4,000 South China tigers, but they were considered pests so they were hunted mercilessly - almost to extinction today.

Population Status
Although threatened by Asia's Medicine Trade, this sub-species has the second largest population of tigers after the Bengal, with approximately 1,200 to 1,800 in the wild today. There is little information recorded on this sub-species and its status, with numbers only an estimate.
In Thailand's major protected areas, about 250 to 600 tigers are thought to inhabit the regions, while Cambodia's tiger status is about 100 to 200.
Some 18 proposed protected areas in Laos have reported the existence of tigers in all areas, but numbers are not known, and China has around 30 to 40 individuals within the bordering region.
In Vietnam, numbers are believed to be between 200 to 300 with 14 reserves having evidence of the cat's presence in the region - the largest being 1,820 sq.km, while the others are all less than 600 sq.km.
Malaysia has estimated around 600 to 650 tigers found in the protected reserves on the Peninsula, and it is thought that Myanmar's population of the cat is still in abundance.

Population  Status
Sometimes called the Chinese tiger or the Amoy tiger, the status of this sub-species in the wild is uncertain, although they are the most critically endangered of all tigers. While about 48 South China tigers live in some 19 zoos in China, only a small number of 20 to 30 remain in the wild, the last seen in the wild about 10 years ago, therefore its status is difficult to properly ascertain. In 1997, it was estimated that 20 to 80 were in existence, but only a year later, their numbers dropped to the current status of 20 to 30.

In China, 21 reserves within the tiger's range have been listed by the Chinese Ministry of Forestry, although they suggest that the population is below 20 individuals. Evidence of the existence of the South China tiger has been noted in approximately 11 reserves in the remote mountains of Guangdong, Hunan and Fujian provinces of South China, although no tigers were seen.
Very little is documented on the South China tiger, and the facts all suggest that it is the rarest of the remaining sub-species of tiger, and the closest to extinction.

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