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A rare South China tigress at a nature reserve for the endangered species at Longyan City, in east China's Fujian Province, gave birth to two cubs on March 2 morning.

So far, the mother and cubs are doing well. Both cubs weighed 1.2 kg at birth and were able to suckle from their mother 43 minutes and 64 minutes after birth respectively, local sources said.

The tigress is the only female among three young south China tigers bought in September 1998 by the Mt Meihua South China Tiger Nature Reserve from Suzhou City in east China's Jiangsu Province. They reached maturity in 2000, but did not mate naturally.

Researchers adopted a range of measures to help the tigers reproduce, including adjusting their diet, massage, and even sex-stimulant drugs for the male tiger. Eventually male tiger No. 284 and tigress No.278 successfully mated in November last year.

The South China Tiger, which enjoy first-class state protection in China, top the list of the world's 10 most endangered species. Experts put the total population at less than 100, of which 50 live in zoos. Only around 30 south China tigers live in the wild in China.

A South China Tiger rescue program was launched in 1998 in Longyan City, believed to be the species' most suitable habitat. The Mt Meihua tiger reserve, birthplace of the new cubs and now home to 13 South China tigers, is part of the program. So far, 120 million yuan (about 14.46 million US dollars) have been spent on the rescue program.

Reserve staff hope by 2010, the overall number of south China tigers will have risen to 100.