Chinanews, Urmuqi, Nov. 21 – Ma Ming, a scholar from Chinese Academy of Sciences, has launched a survey on snow leopard near the border of China and Mongolia. After 3 months of investigation, Ma and his scientific research group only found 30 snow leopards near the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang.The snow leopard can be distinguished from other similar species by its furs. It lives in cold plateaus, which makes its fur unique. The snow leopard is also regarded as the most beautiful animal living on plateaus. It often appeared in the Tianshan Mountains in the past, but now it is difficult for people to find its traces in that region.According to statistics, there were only 3,500-7,000 snow leopards in the world. Now such animal can be found only in Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet, Sichuan, Inner Mongolia of China and in some Central Asian countries.Ma warned that the snow leopard is on the brink of extinction as the enviromental condition of the Tianshan Mountains deteriorate these years.