SHINSHO: China's Yangtze alligator was once on the brink of extinction, but government efforts to save the alligator are paying off. But a new threat is posing a different kind of danger to the alligators.</s>WANG CHAOLIN, ALLIGATOR REPRODUCTION CTR.: There are two reasons for this: First, the increase in population density has damaged their natural environment, mostly through damming up lakes to create farmland; secondly, the use of chemical fertilizers poses a risk to them. The low numbers in China are due mostly to human factors.</s>SHINSHO: The center has come a long way in creating an environment where the alligators can thrive. Now their next challenge is to boost the alligator population in the wild.</s>WANG WEISHEN, MINISTRY OF FORESTRY: For alligators that have been living in an environment surrounded by people, their wild habits will slowly be eroded. If they aren't quickly returned to the wild, the natural evolutionary instincts of the group may disappear.</s>SHINSHO: The center is making sure that doesn't happen. It's already immersed 80 alligators in a mock wild environment in preparation for their return to their natural environment.
Number of Wild Chinese Yangtze Alligators Drops to 100