Chinese zoologists believe that frequent sightings of traces left by wild South China tigers in the past two years prove that the most endangered tiger species is able to exist in the wild.

The discovery of four tiger paw prints in the Heishan Mountain Reserve in central China's Hunan Province earlier this year has been confirmed by Deng Xuejian, a senior South China tiger research expert with Hunan Teacher's University. The prints were preserved intact under a block of crusted snow.

"The clearest one was the left hind paw mark with four toe prints measuring 18 cm in width, left by a 170-kg South China tiger," Deng said. His team members made a plaster mold of the print for further research.

An elderly hunter, Yan Changlin, and several local villagers told the team that they saw a big tiger together with a small one in the area recently.

Based on the evidence and eyewitness reports, experts now believe that at least one tiger family lives in the 5,000-ha reserve. They have advised related authorities to promote Black Mountain to a state-level reserve.

The mountain is located in the southern part of the Hupingshan State South China Tiger Nature Reserve, which in the early 1990s was listed by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as an ideal natural habitat for tigers.

Liao Xiansheng, the only warden at the reserve for over a dozen years, has reported a score of tiger clues since 1998, compared with two sightings between 1992 and 1993.

His specific accounts of tiger traces, such as claw marks on trees, tiger growls and droppings, have been recognized by Chinese forestry officials and international wildlife protection organizations.

According to the expert, some six to ten tigers may live in Hupingshan.

His research, which suggests the existence of a sustainable tiger population, contradicts the view that the South China tiger has become extinct in the wild.

A number of renowned tiger experts agree with him. Lei Guangchun, a professor with Beijing University and a consultant with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), said that the well-preserved highland provides a favorable shelter for enlarging the tiger group.

A "living corridor" has been created by merging the two natural reserves in Hunan with the one in Houhe Mountain, Hubei Province, to give the tigers more breeding space, he said.

In addition to tigers, other carnivores, such as the clouded leopard and black bear, have grown in number under the state protection, said Liao.

To save the South China tiger, a species unique to China, the country has approved several nature reserves since the 1980s, including Hupingshan, Mangshan in Hunan, Meihuashan in southeastern Fujian and Chebaling in Guangdong. The efforts have gradually paid off, since a growing number of eye-witness reports and traces of the tiger have been confirmed by experts in Hunan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

The animal protection authorities want to set up other corridors in central, eastern and southern provinces.

Chinese zoologists estimated that there survive some 20-30 South China Tigers in the wild. Another 53 are in captivity around the country.