Tiger spotted at record high elevation of 3,640m in Sikkim

Dec 9: According to officials, before this, the highest altitude where tigers have been spotted in India was in Arunachal Pradesh at a height of 3,630m in India.

Camera traps installed at a wildlife reserve in the Himalayan state of Sikkim have captured a tiger at an elevation of 3640 metres. This is the highest elevation in India where tigers have been spotted, say researchers.

“BNHS scientists @athrvasingh and @ItsHimadri conducted a camera trap survey and recorded the highest-ever presence of our national animal Tiger at 3640 m asl,” the Bombay Natural History Society posted on its X handle on Wednesday.

The photo was captured on February 25 inside the Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary in Sikkim’s Pakyong district.

“The cameras were installed in the Pangolakha reserve as a part of an ongoing project to study some of the waterbodies that fall in the Central Asian Flyway. It was a joint exercise by the BNHS and the Sikkim forest department,” said Himadri Sekhar Mondal, one of the two BNHS scientists, associated with the project in Sikkim.

“Tigers have earlier been sighted in Pangolakha but this is direct evidence we have got as cameras were installed,” said Pradeep Kumar, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and secretary of Sikkim’s forest and environment department.

According to officials, before this, the highest altitude where tigers have been spotted in India was in Arunachal Pradesh at a height of 3,630m. A three-year camera trap study reported the presence of tigers in the snow-clad Arunachal’s Dibang Valley in 2018.

In Bhutan, tigers have been found at an elevation of more than 4,000m. Sikkim has connectivity with forests in Bhutan and West Bengal where tigers have been spotted earlier. (Hindustan Times)