KUNMING -- Infrared cameras have captured images of snow leopards in two different locations in Southwest China's Yunnan province for the first time, confirming the presence of this endangered species in the province, authorities said 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 Deqen county, respectively. The recordings were made on Feb 17 and 19 this year, according to the provincial forestry and grassland bureau.

The former position is 20 km to 40 km from the nearest known habitation area of snow leopards in Sichuan province, while the latter is 90 km to 100 km away.

Due to the high-altitude distribution of snow leopards and the lack of systematic surveys, the species had not been photographed in the wild in Yunnan for many years, leading to uncertainty about their presence in the province, said Jiang Xuelong, a researcher at the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"The recent sightings in the northwestern part of Yunnan not only confirm the species' presence in the province but also represent one of the southernmost distribution records within China," said Jiang.

Based on the latest distribution findings, zoologists believe that the Three Parallel Rivers area at the junction of Yunnan, Sichuan and Xizang is an important corridor and habitat for the snow leopard populations in the Hengduan Mountains.

The zoologists at the institute said that there may be other potential snow leopard distribution areas within Yunnan, such as Drung-Nu autonomous county of Gongshan at the western side of the Nujiang River and the area of Mount Minling, or Meili Snow Mountain, between the Nujiang and Lancang rivers.

Known as the "king of the snow mountains," the snow leopard is under first-class national protection in China and is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.