"This is an encouraging achievement for Chinese scientists after one year spent tracking the snow leopards in their wildness," said Ma Ming, a researcher with the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

A carnivorous animal seldom found by human beings, snow leopards usually live in 2,700 to 6,000-meter-high snow-capped mountains and plateaus in such countries as China, Afghanistan, India and Nepal.

The total number of this rare species in the world is around 3,500, more than half of which live in the remote high mountains of China's Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan, according to estimates of the International Snow Leopard Trust (ISLT).

Altogether 32 clear pictures of snow leopards, taken between Oct.18 and Dec.27, 2005, have been obtained from the 36 automatic infrared cameras set up separately near a river valley under the 7435-meter-high Mount Tomur, the peak of the Tianshan Mountains in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

"This will be of great significance to future studies on the habits, distribution, number and living environment of this endangered animal, said Ma, who is also a research team member with the Xinjiang Snow Leopard Study project.

In the past, Chinese wildlife experts have researched breeding habits and treatment of illnesses of snow leopards in zoos.

As China's first comprehensive survey on wild snow leopards, the project was organized by the Xinjiang Conservation Fund. It began in 2004 with the support of ISLT and the World Wildlife Fund.

Five snow leopards can be confirmed from the pictures, Ma said.

Based on the findings, the true number of snow leopards in Xinjiang may be much bigger than the estimate of 750 in late 1980s by Dr. George Schaller, an expert with the New York-based World Conservation Society (WCS), he said.

Besides the snow leopards, there are 22 pictures of other animals such as ibexes, a variety of wild goat, wild boars, and chukars, a wild bird, according to the researchers.

This can help us study the food sources of snow leopards, they said.

As part of the study, an investigation into the poaching and trade of snow leopard products is also underway.

Excellent fur and skin of snow leopards can be sold at more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,200) in black markets, the researchers found.

Experts worry that snow leopard products may have been sold from Xinjiang to international markets.

The biggest threat of snow leopards comes from human beings, whose activities have also done great damage to the habitats of the animal, a researcher said.

"We will continue conducting the research in the Kunlun Mountains, east Tianshan Mountains and the Altun Mountains in Xinjiang, so as to get an overall basic report on the snow leopards of Xinjiang," Ma said.

(Xinhua News Agency February 17, 2006)