CCTV9英语新闻：青海发现雪豹栖息地（在线收听）

Zoologists have found a habitat in western China’s Qinghai Province with the greatest density of snow leopards in the country.

Zoologists have spotted a habitat with the greatest density of snow leopards in the entire country, located in western China’s Qinghai province.

The habitat, located in a canyon region near China’s biggest river, the Yangtze, covers an area smaller than 40 square kilometers, but it is home to a number of rare snow leopards. Last October, a few cases of snow leopards attacking lifestock in a neighboring village drew experts’ attention to the area and prompted a field investigation.

Snow leopards typically live in high altitude mountains and plateaus across China, Afghanistan, India and Nepal. The creatures are critically endangered because their fur was once highly prized and their natural prey has declined. The number of surviving wild snow leopards is estimated at only 3,500 worldwide.

Zoologists have spotted a habitat with the greatest density of snow leopards in the entire country, located in western China’s Qinghai province.

Zoologists have spotted a habitat with the greatest density of snow leopards in the entire country, located in western China’s Qinghai province.