As of 2016, at least 20,000 Chinese alligators are living in captivity due to captive-breeding programs, the first initiated in the 1970s. Captive-born Chinese alligators have been reintroduced into their native range, boosting the wild population. Six specimens were released from captivity in 2007, followed by six more in June 2015. As of June 2016, the largest group of Chinese alligators to have been released in the wild was when 18 specimens were reintroduced to Langxi County, part of the species' native habitat, on May 22, 2016. These releases have proven successful, with individuals adapting well to a life in the wild and breeding. A year after the 2007 release, 16 young alligators were found living in the wild. 60 alligator eggs were observed in 2016, distributed in three nests at a wetland park. Although a typhoon in September the same year flooded and eliminated two of the nests, three hatchlings were found in the same area several days after.