Lost Tigers Found in the Bhutan Mountains

A lost population of tigers have been found living high up in the mountains of Bhutan. The discovery has amazed experts as they are living at a higher altitude than previously known and appear to be successfully breeding.

Although tigers are known to live along the Himalayan Foothills of Bhutan, little is known about them or indeed how many.

Dr Alan Rabinowitz, President of Panthera and formerly of the World Conservation Society decided to investigate with a BBC film crew, enlisting the help of BBC wildlife camera man Gordon Buchanan; together they set camera traps up the mountain, that films anything that moves in front of them.

Besides the tigers the cameras caught an astonishing and varied amount of wildlife, from: red foxes, jungle cats, monkeys, leopards, Himalayan black bears, tarkin, serow, musk deer, and red panda – to name a few. The tiger discovery was part of the BBC One programme:  Lost Land of the Tiger.

Rabinowitz also believes that the tiger could be living at an even higher altitude, following reports from villagers who have claimed that some were roaming as high as 4,000m.

This amazing find was made in close collaboration with the Bhutan Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, with help and guidance from forest guard Phup Tshering.

The fact that tigers can live at high altitude, is crucial to new schemes being proposed on connecting high altitude corridors away from towns, villages and roads: helping the tiger to roam across a wider area and helping them from extinction through habitat loss and poaching; allowing them to join other groups which strengthen the genetic diversity and help them breed more successfully.

This is also the only known place on earth to have tigers, leopard ans snow leopard sharing the same valley.