Is there a studbook or record of the South China tigers at Chinese zoos and conservation institutions? All I know is that it is held in Beijing, Shanghai, and Suzhou.
Good question actually, I'd like to know the answer as well. Furthermore, I'd want to know for pure South China Tigers .
According to Baidu Encyclopedia, there is a South China tiger studbook managed by CAZG, and the first South China tiger raised in Baidu Encyclopedia and Taiwan Wikipedia, describes it as Meng Zi, a tigress that captured from Sichuan Province in 1955. I think this suggests that the records of south china tigers are preserved to some extent. Taiwan's Wikipedia quotes an article from 2010, said all existing South China tigers as hybrids. But most of the data is written in Chinese, so it is difficult to ascertain whether the description is still valid.
According to this study (Sorting Out the Genetic Background of the Last Surviving South China Tigers), there are 14 zoos in China that have South China Tigers or are at least partially the South China subspecies. Those 14 zoos are: Changsha, Chongqing, Chengdu, Fujian Meihuashan Institute of South China Tiger Breeding, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Jiujiang, Xiamen Zhongshan Park, Luoyang Wangcheng Garden, Nanchang, Safari Park Guiyang, Safari Park Shenzhen, Shanghai and Suzhou.
The South China tiger is the second species to have a coordinate breeding program in Chinese zoos, just second to giant panda. Now the coordinator is Shanghai Zoo. Now there are about 200 individuals in 16 zoos, Beijing Zoo doesn't have this subspecies. The zoos holding the most South China tigers inlcude Shanghai, Luoyang and Nanchang Zoo.
There are genetic evidences showing that the tigers in SE China are indeed Indo-Chinese tigers, while the tigers in SW mountians of China (Sichuan, Guizhou, Chongqing, NW Yunnan) are distinct lineage. Since the South China tigers in SE and SW China are exchanged regularly for breeding program, it is hard to say whether there are "pure-bred" South China tigers. But at least the unique DNA loci of the SW mountain lineage will be preserved inside these tigers via the breeding program.
