Snow leopard captured in Yellow River Source Park in Sanjiangyuan National Park
Recently, the first image of snow leopard activity was captured in the Yellow River Source Park in Sanjiangyuan National Park.
Yellow River Source Park in Sanjiangyuan National Park is located within Maduo County and covers an area of 19,100 square kilometers. It sits at an elevation of over 4,200 meters. Maduo, which means “source of the Yellow River” in Tibetan, is located in the northwestern part of Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province. It is in the core hinterland of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve.
Law enforcement officers in the Yellow River Source Park recently inspected infrared cameras during a patrol of Huashixia Town in Maduo County on January 9. They collected rare images of wild animals such as snow leopards and lynxes. This was also the first recorded image of snow leopard activities in this Park.
Ma Gui, director of the Ecological Protection Station of the Yellow River Source Park in Sanjiangyuan National Park, said that after years of ecological protection and environmental management, the trend of degradation to the ecosystem in the Yellow River Source Park has been initially alleviated, and they have achieved phased effects of improved water conservation, an increase to the wetland area, improved vegetation coverage, and restoration of the wildlife population.
Snow leopards are known as the “barometers of high-altitude ecosystems health”. The “China Red Data Book of Endangered Animals” has the snow leopard listed as an endangered species. Currently, China has the largest distribution of snow leopards in the world, accounting for 60 percent of the total snow leopard habitat.