KATHMANDU, May 22(Xinhuanet)-- Som Ale, a doctoral candidate at University of Illinois in Chicago of the United States, has photographed snow leopards on Mt. Qomolangma slopes.

According to a news release from the Earthwatch.org received here Sunday, Ale recently photographed two of the rare cats, which are estimated to number only 300 to 500 in Nepal, and saw tracks of two others.

His discovery marked the first confirmed sightings of the elusive cats on the Nepal side of Mt. Qomolangma since the 1960s.

The Nepal-born biologist was investigating whether a national park established in 1976 to protect snow leopards was having the desired effect.

Snow leopards are thinly scattered over some of the remotest ranges in the world, including the Hindu Kush in Afghanistan, the Himalayas and the Sayan Mountains.

There are an estimated 4,500 to 7,000 snow leopards left in the wild at present, according to the news release Enditem