Rare leopards spotted in Shanxi

North China Leopards were recently captured by infrared cameras installed in Qinyuan county in Changzhi city, North China's Shanxi province.

The North China Leopard, which is under first-class national protection, is the only species in the leopard subspecies that has survived in the wild in China. It was listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2012.

The species, which needs a large habitat, mainly lives in the forested mountains and hills of the region. It requires native forests and enough prey to survive – making it an indicative species of the condition of the local environment.

So far, Shanxi has the largest number of North China Leopards in the wild in China.

Check out the video to see what the big cats at the upper end of the local food chain look like.