China's wild alligators to double in 10 years

China's endangered Yangtze alligator population is expected to more than double to 300 in the wild within five to 10 years, state media reported Sunday.

Currently there are more than 120 alligators breeding in a wider area than five years ago, Wang Chaolin of the Chinese Alligators Protection Nature Reserve, in eastern Anhui Province, told Xinhua news agency.

"We have for the first time found wild baby alligators. Normally their survival rate is only two percent," Wang was quoted as saying. "The finding of the infants indicates the number of the species is increasing."

Wang said measures such as the protection of baby alligators and the releasing of captive-bred alligators into to the wild were helping bring the species back from the brink of extinction, the report said.

The Yangtze alligator, also known as the Chinese alligator, was once plentiful, particularly along China's eastern seaboard, Xinhua said.

But pollution, a warming climate and human activity have made it one of the world's most endangered creatures in the wild, it added.

"I'm confident the number will reach 300 in the future," Wang said. "But humans are still the biggest threat to the animal."

China has put the Chinese alligator at the top level of its list of protected species.

The Chinese Alligator Breeding Research Centre was set up in Anhui 30 years ago. Since then, the number of captive alligators at the centre has risen from about 200 to more than 10,000.