The Chinese Alligator National Nature Reserve in Anhui province has released 200 Chinese alligators bred in captivity into the wild this year, helping to increase the province's wild Chinese alligator population to more than 1,600.

There are more than 10,000 Chinese alligators at the reserve, it said recently.

The Chinese alligator is a unique and rare species found only in China, where the State has classified it as a first-class key protected wild animal.

In order to expand the wild alligator population and change its "critically endangered" status, a Chinese Alligator Conservation and Reintroduction Project was approved by the National Forestry Bureau in November 2001. It is one of 15 key rescue projects for wild animals and plants in the country.

From 2003 to 2018, Anhui conducted 14 experimental reintroduction programs, releasing 108 artificially bred Chinese alligators into the wild. In 2019, based on a systematic study of those trials, a scaled-up reintroduction plan was launched, aiming to release 1,500 alligators over a five-year period. From 2019 to last year, 1,300 artificially bred alligators were released.

According to data from recent field surveys, the number of Chinese alligators in the wild is still rising, their distribution range is expanding and their population structure is better balanced. The majority of those released have adapted to the wild environment and reproduced naturally.

Last year, a field survey conducted before that year's batch was released and found 698 Chinese alligators, and 26 nests with 602 eggs that led to the hatching of 372 juveniles.

According to this year's most recent survey data, the number of Chinese alligators in the wild in May was about 1,200. In August, after this year's batch was released, the number was estimated to be 1,400.