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
