KOLKATA: A tiger has been spotted at an altitude of 3,640 metres (around 11,942 ft) above sea level in a Sikkim sanctuary, making it the highest point at which the animal has been sighted in India.
The previous high was 3,630 metres, sighted in Arunachal's Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary.
Trap cameras placed at Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary by scientists of Bombay Natural History Society in collaboration with Sikkim forest department earlier this year captured the image, which was made public this week.
Atharva Singh, scientist at BNHS, said cameras were placed at the sanctuary between December 2022 and February 2023, at different altitudes - from 2,300 metres to 4,100 metres - prior to which sign surveys were conducted across the sanctuary.
"Based on the available evidence, it seems that tigers are using the upper areas of the sanctuary as a corridor to enter the forests of north Sikkim from Bhutan. Previous tiger sightings in the North Sikkim region indicate a potential link between the neighbouring Kyongnosla Alpine Sanctuary and Fambong Lho Wildlife Sanctuary, suggesting the existence of a tiger corridor. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of tiger movement in the high-altitude region of the Sikkim Himalayas, further long-term intensive monitoring studies are required," Singh said, adding that this could be a potential high-altitude tiger corridor.
P Sathiyaselvam, deputy director and head of BNHS Wetlands and Flyways Programme, said the cameras clicked the photographs in February, but they made the pictures public only after checking earlier published records.
"Now, we can say that this is highest point in India where a tiger has been sighted," he said, adding that it's also the first record of tiger from the higher reaches of Pangolakha.
Himadri Sekhar, a scientist, said according to the available records, this is probably the highest altitude tiger sighting in India. "World's highest altitude sighting of a tiger was in Bhutan as per information," he added.
As per reports, Bhutan has the highest altitude tigers in the world, at over 4,000 metres. In 2019, a tiger was caught on camera in Uttarakhand's Kedarnath Sanctuary, at an altitude of 3,400m (around 11,154 ft) above mean sea level.
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