Snow leopard caught on camera sleeping at night in NW China

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The elusive and rare snow leopards have been caught on camera again in northwest China's Gansu Province – and this time around they were filmed sleeping for over six hours.

The new batch of footage is the latest in a growing visual library that has documented snow leopards since last year walking, urinating and running under the rain.

The images allow experts to learn more about these wild animals, and are a proof that conservation efforts are paying off.

Experts from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and workers of Forestry Ecological Management Office of Aksay Kazak Autonomous County worked together to deploy infrared cameras in the Qilian Mountain between October 2018 and March 2019.

A view of the Qilian Mountain. /VCG Photo

Their program aims at protecting the snow leopards and learning more about the diversity of the region.

Six of the 17 infrared cameras captured about 120 photos and 34 clips of snow leopards.

Particularly, on January 7, a camera filmed a snow leopard resting from around 8:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. the next day, which provides precious information for research on behavioral ecology of the snow leopards.

The snow leopard is a large cat native to the cold, mountainous environment of Central and South Asia. Hunted for their precious fur, snow leopards were once on the brink of extinction.

The snow leopard is a Class-A protected animal in China, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature currently classifies it as vulnerable.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at nature@cgtn.com.)