A pair of snow leopards have been captured on camera roaming in the wild in northwest China's Qinghai Province, with the footage offering a rare look at these majestic creatures as they patrol their mountainside habitat.

The chance encounter was filmed by a local herder who was tending his livestock as usual in the Ningmute Town of Henan Mongolian Autonomous County in Qinghai's Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture on Monday morning.

The video shows the two large felines calmly strolling and pausing on a steep slope, scanning their surroundings and appearing to look in the direction of the camera but showing no signs of aggression towards the nearby herder or his livestock.

The snow leopard pair were seemingly conducting a routine patrol of their territory before leisurely disappearing over a ridge and carrying on with their day.

Known as the "king of the snow mountains," the animal is under first-class national protection in China and is listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

Thanks to comprehensive conservation efforts, the snow leopard population in Qinghai Province has grown to approximately 1,200.