Snow leopard born outside natural habitat

For the first time in two decades, a snow leopard was born outside its natural habitat.

The leopard was born on June 6 in Jinan's Paomaling Wildlife World, the Jinan Bureau of Landscape said on Thursday.

The cub's mother was taken to Jinan, the capital of Shandong province, from Xining Wildlife World in December before getting pregnant at the end of February, according to Wang Kai, the manager of Paomaling Wildlife World.

The natural habitat for snow leopards ranges from 2,500 meters to 5,500 meters above sea level and they are normally found in plateau areas in western regions. It is now listed as an endanger species.

There are only 5,000 to 7,000 snow leopards around the world, mainly distributed in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and other countries in the Central Asia plateau.