A rare glimpse of two snow leopards roaming freely in the wild has been recorded in northwest China’s Qinghai Province, offering a striking look at the elusive predators in their natural habitat.

The encounter was captured by a local herder while tending to his livestock in Ningmute Town, Henan Mongolian Autonomous County. The pair of big cats were seen moving calmly across a steep mountainside, pausing occasionally to survey their surroundings.

At one point, the snow leopards appeared to glance towards the observer but showed no signs of aggression before continuing their slow patrol and eventually disappearing over a nearby ridge.

Often called the “king of the snow mountains”, the snow leopard is under China’s first-class national protection and is listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List.

Encouragingly, sustained conservation efforts have helped boost Qinghai’s snow leopard population to around 1,200 individuals.

Source: China Central Television