Rare video footage of a snow leopard mating ritual was released on Friday, as a conservation campaign launched by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) ended.

Snow leopards are large, elusive cats living in high mountain ranges in Central and South Asia. Due to population decline, the species is classified as endangered-to-vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Currently, China is home to the largest number of wild snow leopards in the world.

Sanjiangyuan Nature Reserve in northwest China's Qinghai Province is the largest nature reserve in China. A report in May, 2018 estimated the population of snow leopards in the reserve to be 1,000, compared with the total population of the species in the entire world, which is somewhere between 3,500 and 7,000.

Cameras caught the courtship and mating rituals between two snow leopards at two different times in a 12-hour period in February this year.

In the video, the two snow leopards rolled over, played, chased each other and mated while roaring.

"It is rare to see the mating of snow leopards around the origin of the Yellow River. The images are very valuable for researching snow leopards' behavior and reproductive activities," said Ngawang from the provincial Yuanshangcao conservation center.

WWF launched a biodiversity protection campaign in 2018 in the region, and so far, a total of 941 video clips have been collected. Snow leopards appeared in 29 clips.

Other rare wild animals including blue sheep, red foxes, Tibetan foxes and manul, were also recorded on cameras, said He Bing, snow leopard project manager for the WWF.

(Cover image via VCG.)

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