Camera traps in Sailyugemsky National Park have once again captured images of a snow leopard, one of the rarest animals that live in the high mountains. Earlier, the cameras photographed a snow leopard called Khan and a female snow leopard with cubs in the same place.

“We can’t say for sure whether this snow leopard is one of those cubs who has grown. We don’t have enough information or photographs, but it is obviously not Khan,” said Denis Malikov, deputy head of research at Sailyugemsky National Park. “This could be a totally new animal that we have never seen before.”

The photos show the snow leopard from different angles and are dated July 2015. Researchers at the park will now have to study the snow leopard together with their expert colleagues.

The first photos of snow leopards were taken at Sailyugemsky National Park in early April 2015. The next stroke of luck for the scientists was dicovering three new snow leopards – a female with two cubs, who were named Altyn and Argut ahead of International Snow Leopard Day.