幼龄华南虎三种哺育方法结果初报

Preliminary comparation of three feeding methods for South China tiger(Panthera tigris amoyensis )cubs

华南虎（Panthera tigris amoyensis）又称中国虎,为我国特有虎亚种,是现存5个虎亚种中最濒危的一种。它曾广泛分布于我国黄河流域以南至珠江以北的广大地区,现仅分布在福建、江西、广东和湖南交界的南岭山地林区,野外数量不足30只（韩宗先,2004）,被列为国家Ⅰ级保护野生动物。IUCN（世界自然保护联盟）将其濒危等级划分为极危（CR）,亦被认为是＂最优先需要国际保护的动物＂（IUCN,2010）。圈养华南虎种群数量稀少,其种群存在遗传多样性丧失、繁殖率降低等问题,甚至有部分个体呈现出异常行为（沈华伟等,2003;

In this study, 9 tiger cubs, born to two tigresses from the Guangzhou Zoo and the Shaoguan South China Tiger domestication and breeding research base, were fed using three methods ： breast-feeding, artificial feeding, and comprehen- sive feeding respectively. Three feeding methods were compared through measuring the daily average increased body weight of these cubs. The results showed that 5 cubs that were fed by artificial feeding and comprehensive feeding were all survive, the survival rate was 100% , and their daily average weight gain was higher than that of breast-feeding. Two of four cubs which were fed by breast-feeding were alive, only half of breast-feeding cubs survived.