A snow leopard mother and her two cubs were captured by an infrared camera in northwest China.

The rare footage was filmed at Qilainshan National Park in Gansu Province on February 26. A mother snow leopard traversed the snowy terrain, while her two offspring followed in her footsteps.

Snow leopards, classified as a first-class protected species in the country, are iconic creatures within high-altitude regions. They are renowned for their ability to inhabit rocky environments and are considered the flagship species of the Qilian Mountains ecosystem. As apex predators in the plateau ecosystem, they frequently roam between elevations of 3,000 to 5,000 metres in the permanent snow and cold desert zones.

The video was provided by local media with permission.

近日，在祁连山国家公园甘肃省管理局张掖分局西水保护站工作人员6月收集的红外相机数据中，采集到今年2、3月雪豹母子活动的珍贵影像资料。画面中，母雪豹在雪地中前行，两只幼崽尾随其后。此次拍摄到的雪豹视频，是位于祁连山国家公园张掖分局海拔约3000米以上地区。
雪豹属国家一级保护野生动物，是高原地区的岩栖性动物，是祁连山生态系统的旗舰物种，作为高原生态系统下的顶级捕食者，经常在永久冰雪高山裸岩及寒漠带环境中海拔3000~5000米的地区活动，它能有效地控制青羊、岩羊等有蹄类动物的种群数量，对维持高原生态系统的平衡有着至关重要的作用，其分布范围及种群数量是衡量生态系统健康与否的重要标志。