BEIJING (AFP) -- Chinese zoologists have launched an artificial insemination programme in a bid to rescue the Siberian tiger from extinction, Xinhua news agency reported.

Scientists at China's Henghedaozi Feline Breeding Center in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang artificially inseminated a four-year-old tigress with sperm from a healthy older male on Saturday, Xinhua said.

Only about 400 Siberian tigers survive in the wild in northern China and Russia.

China has been successful in the artificial insemination of pandas, another endangered species. According to Xinhua, 34 giant panda cubs were born by artificial insemination in 2006 and 30 of them survived.

The China Henghedaozi Feline Breeding Center was established in 1986 with just eight tigers, and now the population has exceeded 700, Xinhua said.