BEIJING, Oct 12: A rare South China tiger has been spotted in the wild for the first time in decades, surprising researchers who feared the subspecies was extinct outside of captivity, state media said on Friday.

Experts have confirmed a photograph taken on Oct 3 by a farmer in Shaanxi province was of a young wild South China tiger, the most critically endangered of all tiger subspecies, Xinhua news agency said.

Experts have said no more than 20 to 30 of the tigers were believed to remain in the wild, but none have been spotted in decades, with many fearing that a small number of captive-born tigers were all that remained.

The population of the South China tiger, the smallest tiger subspecies, was believed to number 4,000 in the early 1950s.

The last wild South China tiger sighting was recorded in 1964.

The animal has also fallen victim to decimation of overpopulated China’s natural environment and the elimination of its natural prey, according to the US-based Save the Tiger Fund.

The South China Tiger is one of six remaining tiger subspecies. Three subspecies, the Bali, Java, and Caspian tigers have all become extinct since the 1940s, according to the fund. The tiger’s traditional habitat is southern and central China.—AFP