Bronx Zoo Sends Gators Home
Endangered Chinese Alligator Population Gets a Boost

Chinese alligator is prepared for shipping ©WCS/Julie Maher

A dozen rare Chinese alligators hatched and raised in the U.S. are about to get in touch with their roots. The toothy twelvesome were donated by Disney’s Animal Kingdom, St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park, and the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo for relocation to China.

Beginning their journey at the Bronx Zoo, the alligators took off from New York’s JFK airport on May 17, bound for Shanghai. A team of WCS veterinarians oversaw the shipment to ensure that the travelers were healthy and comfortable. WCS conservationist Dr. John Thorbjarnarson together with John Brueggen, general director of St. Augustine Alligator Farm, chaperoned the expedition. Once the alligators touched down in China, they were moved to a holding facility. Eventually, they will be released in a wetlands reserve near the mouth of the Yangtze River.

“We are delighted that the Chinese government will receive these twelve alligators in an effort to help bolster numbers of the critically endangered species,” said Thorbjarnarson, who is helping oversee the program. “Given the chance, these animals will grow in number and roam in areas where they haven’t been seen in many years.”

Human communities of the Yangtze River valley should fear not—Chinese alligators are smaller than their American cousins and relatively timid animals, preferring small fish and aquatic birds to people.

The Chinese alligator is one of just two alligator species in the world. While the formerly endangered American alligator has recovered thanks to conservation efforts, Chinese alligators have been virtually eliminated from their native habitat. Large-scale conversion of wetlands into farmland over the past several thousand years has left only a few dozen remaining in the wild.

In 2003, WCS assisted in the first-ever release of captive-reared alligators to China’s Anhui Province. Students from East China Normal University monitored the gator trio over the course of a year through radio-telemetry. The effort was successful, with all three animals surviving and at least one of the two females nesting in 2004 and 2005.

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