A Chinese breeding center for Siberian tigers has conducted DNA
samplings to be tested on 700 of the 800-plus tigers raised in the
park amid efforts to help prevent "intermarriage" and reduce
genetic degeneration of the species, a center official said on
Thursday.
"We completed DNA samplings on another 150 Siberian tigers this
year. So far, we have done so on all of the center's Siberian
tigers aged above one, except for the 100 cubs born this year,"
said Liu Dan, chief engineer of the China Hengdaohezi Feline
Breeding Center in the suburbs of Harbin, capital of northeastern
Heilongjiang Province.
Since the DNA samplings and tests project started in 2001, the
center has completed DNA tests on 200 Siberian tigers. It will
carry out tests on all the remaining DNA samples, Liu said.
"The ultimate goal of conducting DNA tests on Siberian tigers is
to set up a 'family tree' for them, so as to guarantee the pure
blood of the species and prevent genetic degeneration due to
'intermarriage'," he said.
Siberian tigers, among the world's 10 most endangered species,
mostly live in northeast China and the Far East area of Russia. Of
the 400 estimated to live in the wild, only 10 to 17 live in
northeast China.
The Siberian tiger is listed as "endangered" on the Red List of
Threatened Species of the World Conservation Union and is also
listed on the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES) Appendix I which prohibits the trade of live tigers
or tiger parts.
To protect the rare tigers from extinction, China established
the Harbin center in 1986, which is currently the largest breeding
base for Siberian tigers in the world.
The center now has more than 800 Siberian tigers in captivity,
including over 100 born this year, compared with only eight when it
was set up.
Scientists at the center plan to train and release 620 Siberian
tigers into the wild in the future, according to Liu.?
(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2007)
