In 1998, the population of the Chinese alligator was the lowest it had ever been; the largest area it lived in was a small pond along the Yangtze surrounded by farmland, which held 11 alligators. In 1999, the Wildlife Conservation Society estimated that 130–150 individuals were left in the wild. According to "The New York Times", the population was less than 130 in 2001; at this time, alligators sometimes wandered around to look for a suitable habitat, but were unsuccessful due to their habitat having been turned into rice fields. In 2003, the population began to gradually increase after having been roughly stable between 1998 and 2003. A survey of the population by the Anhui National Nature Reserve for Chinese Alligator (ANNRCA) in 2005 deduced that between 92 and 114 adults and 66 young remained in the wild. The survey reasoned that the species' population was growing in four sites, but stable in the rest of the alligator's range. A 2012 journal article estimated the population at the time to be 120–150. A 2015 survey observed 64 individuals, of which 32 were adults, estimating that the total number of adults was 68–86 and the total population 136–173. Wang Renping, the head of the ANNRCA, stated in 2017 that about 300 specimens existed in the wild, some of which had been born captive and reintroduced to the wild. As of 2018 the population is not considered to be further declining.