A nature reserve in east China's Anhui province released six captive-bred Chinese alligators into the wild Tuesday morning as part of an experimental program to boost the population of the endangered animal.
It is the eighth time for the Anhui Yangtze Alligator Nature Reserve in Xuancheng city to release alligators into the wild, taking the number of released alligators to 48.
Wang Chaolin, deputy director of the nature reserve, said, the reserve had released 42 alligators into the wild from 2006 to 2011, and the reptiles were doing well in adapting to the natural environment.
The released alligators began laying eggs in 2008, he said.
The female to male sex ratio of the released alligators is 2:1. The alligators undergo DNA testing before being released to avoid inbreeding, according to Wang.
The researchers install radio transmitters on the reptiles to trace their whereabouts and collect data for scientific study, Wang added.
Anhui is home to the majority of the country's Chinese alligators, which are widely known as Yangtze alligators because they live along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
The nature reserve started restoring and constructing alligator habitats in 2002, and 45 hectares of habitats had been created by the end of 2011.
China listed the alligators as the first-class protected animal in 1972. An investigation jointly conducted by China and the U.S. found that the number of the alligators was less than 150 in 1999, and it was being reduced by four to six percent every year.
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