Specialists from Land of the Leopard National Park in the Primorye Territory have obtained unique footage of a large family of Far Eastern leopards. A trail camera captured an adult leopardess and three cubs on top of a mountain.

The video was filmed with an automatic camera in the northern part of the national park. The female, Leo 117F, brought her cubs to an elevation. During the first part of the video, the family is taking a break on a rocky platform; then the mother notices movement nearby. Attracted by some other animal, the female goes to explore. Leo 117F must have found potential prey – deer or roe deer – and went off hunting to obtain some food for her family and show some hunting skills to her cubs.

Photo and video footage of Far Eastern leopard cubs is quite a rare discovery. Unlike adults, the protected younger animals are less likely to be captured on trail cameras due to their mothers’ caution. Females avoid bringing their offspring too close to common animal tracks where most automatic cameras are to be found.