This photo taken by an infrared camera on Dec. 24, 2022 shows a wild Siberian tiger in the Greater Hinggan Mountains in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The Greater Hinggan Mountains in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province recently captured images and footage of a wild Siberian tiger in the area, the provincial forestry and grassland bureau said Thursday.

The footage was found on May 30, when a research team sorted the information collected by their infrared cameras while monitoring the species' population. (Heilongjiang Forestry and Grassland Bureau/Handout via Xinhua)

HARBIN, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The Greater Hinggan Mountains in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province recently captured images and footage of a wild Siberian tiger in the area, the provincial forestry and grassland bureau said Thursday.

The footage was found on May 30, when a research team sorted the information collected by their infrared cameras while monitoring the species' population.

Siberian tigers were widely distributed in northeast China at the beginning of the 20th century, with the Greater Hinggan Mountains as one of their prime habitats. However, a survey conducted from 1974 to 1976 indicated that the wildlife was once extinct in the area.

In December 2021, local researchers found some footprints of a female Siberian tiger during their field survey there, marking the first appearance of the trail of the rare species in the mountainous area in over five decades.

It has been about a year and a half since the researchers spotted the wildlife.

The reappearance of the species and images of its prey indicates a positive restoration of the tiger's population. The Greater Hinggan Mountains area is likely to have become the spotted tiger's preferred habitat, which also reveals that the habitats of the endangered tiger in China have further expanded in recent years, according to the researchers.

Siberian tigers, also known as Amur or Manchurian tigers, are one of the most endangered animals in the world. They mainly live in eastern Russia, northeast China, and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.