Joss Fong
is a founding member of the Vox video team and a producer focused on science and tech. She holds a master's degree in science, health, and environmental reporting from NYU.
Camera traps are motion-sensing cameras that can take photos or videos of elusive animals in the wild. This clip from the Wildlife Conservation Society was captured by a camera trap in northeast China:
It shows a cub of the rarest cat subspecies, the Amur Leopard. There are only around 70 of these cats in the world, living mostly in a protected area in Eastern Russia. The video was big news because it suggested that Amur Leopards are returning to China and possibly breeding there.
Camera traps don't only report good news though. Several have captured images of poachers carrying guns in protected lands. This clip from Panthera and Flora & Fauna International captured a limping clouded leopard that had lost its paw to a hunter's snare:
Check out the video above for many more camera trap videos of the world's rarest cats.
