Briefly

Snow leopards spotted in Yunnan for first time

Night vision cameras have captured images of snow leopards in two different locations in Southwest China's Yunnan for the first time, confirming the presence of the endangered species in the province, authorities said on Saturday. Two snow leopards were spotted at altitudes of 4,500 meters within the city of Shangri-La and 4,800 meters in a township in Dechen county. The recordings were made on Feb 17 and 19 this year, according to the provincial forestry and grassland bureau. The first sighting was 20 kilometers to 40 km from the nearest known habitation area of snow leopards in Sichuan province, while the second sighting was 90 km to 100 km away. Based on the latest distribution findings, zoologists believe that the Three Parallel Rivers area at the junction of Yunnan, Sichuan province and the Xizang autonomous region is an important corridor and habitat for the snow leopard population in the Hengduan Mountains.

Tianzhou 7 set to leave Tiangong space station

The Tianzhou 7 cargo craft, tasked with carrying supplies to and from China's space station, separated from the station at 4:30 pm on Sunday and switched to independent flight, according to the China Manned Space Agency. The cargo craft will reenter Earth's atmosphere in a controlled manner shortly, it said. Most of its components will burn up and be destroyed during the process, while a small amount of debris will fall into designated safe waters in the South Pacific, the CMSA said. The agency has planned two cargo supply missions for this year — Tianzhou 7 and Tianzhou 8. Tianzhou 7 was launched on Jan 17 from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan. Tianzhou 8 has been rescheduled for mid-November due to the impact of Super Typhoon Yagi on Wenchang.

Xinhua