Recently, footage of snow leopards and other rare wild animals was captured by infrared cameras in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The snow leopard is nicknamed "ghost of the mountains" because it is hard to see them. Sichuan's Xionglongxi Provincial Nature Reserve has released footage showing three snow leopards roaming around near rocks. The three animals may be a mother and her cubs, or siblings, according to staff.

The same infrared camera also recorded another snow leopard sniffing and then walking back and forth against a rock.

Due to the scarcity of the species, snow leopards are under top-class national protection in China and classified as endangered animals by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

There are also images of other rare and exotic wild animals, such as leopards, forest musk deers, Alpine musk deers, Eurasian lynxs, yellow throat martens, brown bears and rock sheep.

(Cover image via VCG)

(CCTV's Zhang Li and Miao Qiucheng contributed to this report.)

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