Re-introduction of Chinese alligators into the Gaojingmiao forestry farm, Anhui province, China

Summary

The Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis), one of the world's most endangered crocodilians with only about 120 individuals left in the wild in Anhui Province against a captive population exceeding 10,000, was the focus of a re-introduction launched in early 2006 at Gaojingmiao forestry farm, a 10.37 square kilometre site of forest, grassland, and wetland stocked in advance with fish and snails to establish a food base. With State Forestry Administration funding and local government support, the Anhui Research Center for Chinese Alligator Reproduction donated 25 candidate alligators, from which six healthy adults, two males and four females, were selected after physical examination, individually notch-marked, and fitted with radio transmitters weighing under 4 percent of body mass. All six were released into the farm's ponds on 28 April 2006 and monitored daily using radio telemetry, spotlight surveys, and direct observation. Over the following weeks each alligator settled into a stable home range overlapping with the others before gradually exploring further afield, with one individual ranging across roughly 9.9 hectares by mid-June. A female was observed constructing a nesting cavity in June, though rising water forced its abandonment, and courtship display and mating were observed during the breeding season, though no reproduction resulted. All six alligators survived the winter with no deaths recorded. The project rated itself Partially Successful, having met its overwinter survival goal but not yet achieved breeding in this first season.