Pallas's cats, who are roughly the same size as domestic house cats, are a secretive feline living mostly out of sight in grasslands and rocky mountain steppe regions across Asia. The notoriously camera-shy species has been so rarely seen, in fact, that grainy images from remote camera traps are often the only evidence researchers have to go on that they are indeed around.
And that's what makes this recent sighting all the more exciting.
According to the Siberian Times, rangers from Saylyugem National park recently managed to snap these crisp, clear photographs of a Pallas's cat — the first time the species has been the subject of a photographer's camera in Siberia.
Given their elusory lifestyle, little is known about Pallas's cats beyond the fact they are imperiled by human activity. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the species as "near-threatened" mostly due to poaching and habitat fragmentation.
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