Rare snow leopards spotted in China's panda habitat

Three wild snow leopards were caught on camera in a nature reserve in southwest China's Sichuan Province, the reserve's administration said on Wednesday.

Feline scratch-marks were found in a rocky area with an altitude of more than 4,000 meters before two infrared cameras set up in the region spotted the big cats, believed to be a mother and two cubs, in Wolong Nature Reserve.

The pictures and short video clips, which were taken at 6 a.m. on May 2, showed the leopards were roaming and foraging in the area.

The footage has provided very important information for the research work on wild highland animals, said Yang Jian, director of the Dengsheng wild animal and plant protection station, administrated by Wolong Nature Reserve.

Snow leopards, one of China's Class A protected animals, are usually found in the Himalayan ranges of central and south Asia at altitudes between 3,000 and 5,500 meters.

The animal has rarely been seen in the wild over the last century due to loss of their habitats and poaching. An estimated 3,500 to 7,000 snow leopards live in the wild, in addition to 600 to 700 more in zoos worldwide.

The Wolong National Nature Reserve, covering 200,000 hectares in Sichuan's Wenchuan County, was founded in 1963 as the "home of the giant panda". The reserve is also home to many other endangered species such as golden monkeys as well as rare plants. Endi