Photo/Illutration

Editor's note: This is part of a series of videos offering an up-close perspective on the animal kingdom. A special 360-degree video camera system was set up in zoos and other facilities to show how the animals view their world as they interact.

Also visit our special 360-DEGREE LIVES page (http://t.asahi.com/360lives), where you can watch all the previous videos.

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Before three Amur leopard cubs made their first public appearance on Nov. 7, a video camera was installed in a section of the exhibition space at the city-run Kobe Oji Zoo.

But instead of showing curiosity about the device installed in early October, the triplets took no notice of it and were absorbed in playing with each other. They just ran around the place and even crawled up the fence only to make zoo attendants worried.

The cubs were born at the zoo on July 29. The Amur leopard is one of the world’s most endangered species, and it is also rare to see the big cat species at Japanese zoos.

According to the zoo’s vice director, Kumiko Hanaki, the cubs are fed by zoo attendants because their mother had her hands full after giving birth to the triplets in her first childbirth. They weighed about 500 to 600 grams at birth, and about 5 kilograms when the video was shot.

The endangered Amur leopard inhabits forested areas along the Amur River in the Far East of Russia. The feline is characterized by a long and slender yellowish-brown body with beautiful dark rosettes. It also has sharp claws, making the animal an excellent tree climber.

The rosettes serve as protective coloration, which helps the leopards hide in the grass or the treetops.

The number of Amur leopards has drastically declined because of overhunting for their fur and ecological destruction, with a little more than 100 believed to remain in the wild.

The Amur leopard has been listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, the most threatened category assigned by the IUCN.