India, Oct. 8 -- Jackie Chan is known for his wild stunts and kung fu comedies. But he has also backed a quieter battle: the fight to save one of the world's rarest big cats. The South China tiger once roamed the forests of southern China. However, for decades, no one has spotted one in the wild. A field survey of eight reserves in five provinces in 2001 and 2002 by Ronald Tilson and colleagues, published in the journal Oryx, tried to find them. The team found no evidence of wild South China tigers in the survey area.

Tilson and his team looked for signs of tigers, their prey, and damage to the land. Few prey animals were found, and there were no reports of tigers killing livestock in the previous 10 years. The reserves were small, avera...