LANZHOU, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Over 100 Tibetan wild donkeys, a top-grade protected animal in China, were caught on video in northwest China's Gansu Province.

A clip shows the wild donkeys running in a line over snow-covered land, then slowly stopping and scattering to seek food.

One of the photographers, Mutai, a herder in Kazak Autonomous County of Aksay in the city of Jiuquan, said the herd appeared in the Haltang grassland in the county, and he used a telescope and his phone to shoot the video as it was far away.

Located at the west end of the Qilian Mountains in northwest China at an altitude of more than 4,000 meters, the Haltang grassland is one of the main habitats in the country for hoofed wild animals.

Wang Zhijun, head of the county's environmental bureau, said the bureau has monitored an increasing population of wild animals in the area in recent years, as the local government has stepped up protection efforts and increased punishment for illegal hunting.

In China, the Tibetan wild donkey, a highly-endangered species, is mainly distributed in Tibet Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Gansu Province. Enditem