A group of four snow leopards has been captured on camera as they moved together across an alpine meadow recently in Yushu City of northwest China's Qinghai Province.
In the footage recorded by a local photography enthusiast, the animals, appearing to travel as a family group, walked slowly across the highland meadow and lay down for rest, showing a relaxed and unhurried demeanor.
Capturing four individuals of the elusive big cat in a single frame is exceptionally uncommon in the wild.
A top predator on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, the snow leopard is listed as "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
Yushu has stepped up biodiversity conservation and accelerated the restoration of wildlife habitats in recent years.
Rare and protected species have been spotted on the plateau with growing frequency as the regional ecological environment continues to improve.
Family of four snow leopards spotted together in Qinghai
The China-Europe Arctic container express route launched its weekly summer regular service on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Transport.
Loaded with high-value-added goods such as energy storage cabinets and photovoltaic modules, the vessel departed from Ningbo-Zhoushan Port in east China's Zhejiang Province on Saturday. It will travel via the Northeast Arctic waterway to Europe, making successive calls at core ports in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea, including Britain's largest container port of Felixstowe, Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Hamburg in Germany, and Gdynia in Poland.
It is the fastest container shipping route between major ports in China and Europe, significantly shortening the journey and transportation time by crossing the Arctic Ocean. Taking just 20 days to complete, it is significantly faster than the China-Europe freight train (about 25 days), the Suez Canal route (about 40 days), and the Cape of Good Hope route (about 50 days).
The maiden voyage of China's China-Europe Arctic container express route set sail from Ningbo-Zhoushan Port on September 23, 2025, and arrived at Britain's Port of Felixstowe, 20 days later via the Arctic shipping lane.
The route is also seen as a key achievement under the Belt and Road Initiative's "Polar Silk Road", poised to provide faster and lower-carbon logistics options for industries such as advanced manufacturing, cross-border e-commerce, and new energy.
China-Europe Arctic container express route starts seasonal regular operation
