Safe habitat staked for wild Chinese alligators  

安徽扬子鳄保护区“地盘”圈定

记者6日从安徽扬子鳄国家级自然保护区管理局获悉，历时一年多，安徽扬子鳄国家级保护区首次明确界定野生扬子鳄“地盘”，标桩立界其生活圈，一改往昔的无界之困局。

Xuancheng (CNS) -- After a year's effort by the National Nature Reserve of the Chinese Alligator in Anhui Province, wild Chinese alligators now have a protected zone of 18,565 hectares, according to local authorities on Tuesday.

The Chinese alligator is native only to China and categorized as a rare and endangered species. Its habitat has been reduced to little more than a few ponds along the lower Yangtze River in the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui.

The national-level reserve in Anhui is the world's largest base for an alligator population, and a main habitat for wild alligators in the country. At present, only about 150 Yangtze alligators are still living in the wilderness. Although the tally has increased by 30 individuals in the last five years, the population is smaller than that of wild giant pandas.

To ensure effective management of the protection zone, the local reserve center set up stakes in the water to clarify the alligator community at the beginning of 2012.