Chinese desert cats photographed in the wild

Bian Zhongjian, a Chinese photographer, captured Felis bieti, also known as the Chinese desert cat, an endemic species in China under first-class state protection, in Haiyan county, Haibei Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, northwest China's Qinghai Province.

The Felis bieti mainly lives in the eastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is the flagship species and the indicator species for the biodiversity conservation of the ecosystem in the shallow mountainous area of the Qilian Mountain National Park.

(Intern Xing Yawen contributed to this story.)