09:55
On Friday, a national nature reserve in southwest China's Sichuan Province released footage taken by infrared cameras, showing a snow leopard roaming in the core habitat of giant pandas.
This was the first time they have spotted a snow leopard there. According to the administration of the Wolong National Nature Reserve, two of their infrared cameras, set 200 meters apart from each other, captured the big cat wandering around in a forest with an altitude of some 3,000 meters earlier on June 3 and 4.
Both under China's top-class protection, pandas are forest species and snow leopards are alpine species, which means the altitude of their habitats is quite different. But there is an overlapped part at elevations from 3,000 to 4,000 meters. So, it makes sense that such a "visit" takes place once in a while, said an expert from the nature reserve.
"Since the snow leopard stayed less than 24 hours in the giant panda territory, it is not likely for the big cat to run into any giant panda. Even if it did, it's not likely that their meeting triggered a fight," said Duan Zhaogang, an official at the administration of the nature reserve.
