Changbai Mountain, located in eastern Jilin province in Northeast China, was once covered by lush primordial forests, home to what are possibly the biggest living cats, the Manchurian tiger and Manchurian leopard.

A century ago, people could easily spot the tigers and leopards throughout Northeast China. But later, the animals' habitat shrank due to damage to the forests.

In 1998, animal experts from China, Russia and the United States concluded that only six to nine tigers and three to seven leopards still inhabited the Changbai Mountain area.

Today, their population has been steadily increasing due to the intensive conservation efforts of the Jilin government.

To protect the forests - the tigers and leopards' homeland - Jilin's government has banned frequent hunting and commercial logging.

The well-protected natural reserves are home to many ungulates, or large herbivorous mammals, which are regarded as sufficient food for the tigers and leopards.

On Nov 25, 2014, cameras in the Jilin Huncun Manchurian Tiger National Nature Reserve shot video of an Manchurian tiger.

In the video, the tiger stops in front of the camera, lifts its head and looks around. The tiger turns its head, one of the ears moving slightly. The video shows the tiger's two sparkling eyes, sturdy limbs and strong physique.

The video has become one of the clearest and most exciting film documents of Manchurian tigers ever published.

On Oct 9, 2013, cameras in the Jilin Wangqing National Nature Reserve captured video of "a leopard mother with her two cubs" in which a robust little leopard walks in front of the camera, followed by a chubby leopard mother with another frisky leopard cub.

The 10-second video marked the first time for China to have shot video of a leopard mother with two cubs in the wild.

According to a dozen years' observation and research performed by a research team from Beijing Normal University and the Jilin Forestry Department, at least 27 tigers and 42 leopards inhabited the eastern region of Jilin province from 2012 to 2014.

"The infrared cameras in Jilin province have monitored the Manchurian tigers and leopards growing in population year by year," said Feng Limin, associate professor at the School of Life Sciences at Beijing Normal University.

"As for their distribution, they are gradually moving to China from the Sino-Russian border regions. The animals' growing population show that Jilin has made good improvements in protecting these wild animals," Feng said.

But the current situation is still not positive for those endangered animals.

At present, almost all of the tigers and leopards are squeezed into the Jilin Hunchun National Nature Reserve and Russia's national park for the animals, which is actually an islet isolated by wetlands and railways.

Due to intensive cattle and ginseng farming, the food resources and living space of the tigers and leopards began to dwindle.

On April 1, 2015, Jilin province banned commercial logging in the State-owned forests to preserve the habitats for the wild animals.

Jilin province will build three to five new natural reserves for the threatened species. They also formed a special fund for monitoring mountain habitat and protecting the animals.

The government also seized the opportunity to cooperate with Russia in monitoring the environment and conducting scientific research.

A national park project for Manchurian tiger and leopard's protection was approved recently to build a national park of 1.46 million hectares in Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces.

Manchurian tiger discovered in Hunchun, Jilin province. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Manchurian leopard discovered in Hunchun. [Photo provided to China Daily]

(China Daily 03/14/2017 page19)