“Rare species that we rarely saw before are now showing up, ” said Kong. The two rare cats are both on the country’s top protection list and also “star species” in the Qilian Mountains National Park. “This shows that ecological protection efforts have worked, ” said Xi during his discussion with lawmakers from Qinghai. After recent years of intensive restoration efforts, the populations of snow leopards, Tibetan wild donkeys, white-lipped deer and alpine musk deer have been expanding as the quality of their habitats was significantly improved. In Namse township in Qinghai, 45 snow leopards have been spotted, and the township is thus dubbed as the “hometown” of snow leopards due to the frequent sightings of the big cats.

Source: The Star March 17, 2021 00:45 UTC