By Indira Aryal
Kathmandu, Dec. 13: A Bengal tiger has been photographed at an elevation of 3,165 meters by a camera set up in a forest in Ilam district, in eastern Nepal.
Never before has a tiger been sighted at this altitude.
The Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), the largest of all Asian big cats, was captured on November 13, 2020, and November 21, 2020, at 3,165 meters by a camera trap set up in a forest in Ilam district, according to the Department of Forest and Soil Conservation (DoFSC).
Mana Bahadur Khadka, Director General of the DoFSC, said, “Tiger is a generic species that ensures the well-being of the entire ecosystem across its habitat. This sighting signifies the importance of high-altitude forest in the mountains as a habitat for these endangered big cats.”
“The first-ever sighting of a tiger in Ilam district demonstrates the significance of the PIT (Panchthar-Ilam Taplejung) corridor in eastern Nepal and how it needs to be under global conservation priority," said Ang Phuri Sherpa, country director for Red Panda Networks (RPN). “It provides a lot of opportunities for high-altitude tiger habitats in Nepal.”
Dr. Dinesh Neupane, programme director at the Resource Himalaya Foundation and wildlife expert, said that it was the country’s highest-ever recorded tiger sighting and the very first photographic evidence in the mountain of eastern Nepal, and stressed on further research on how and where the tiger came from.
The DoFSE, in a statement, said that the record of tiger seen in Ilam district was from among the eight species -- including leopard, clouded leopard, snow leopard, Asiatic golden cat, leopard cat, jungle cat and marbled cat -- found in the Kangchenjunga Landscape (KL).
The images were captured by one of the 20 cameras equipped with GPS-satellite collars in the KL that was set up to monitor ten wild red pandas, said Neupane.
RPN, in collaboration with the DoFSC and the Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC), has been monitoring red pandas in Ilam district since last year. The highest reported elevation records of the Bengal tigers are 3,630 meters at Dibang valley in Arunchal Pradesh, India, and 4,038 meters in Bhutan. The species’ highest recent elevation record was from Dadeldhura district, Nepal (2,500 meters).
The first record of the tiger in Ilam district corridor demonstrates the importance of the KL, which needs special attention, the statement read. KL provides connectivity to the Singalila National Park in India and is connected to habitats in North Sikkim, Dooars and the Neora Valley Region of North Bengal where tiger sightings have been reported.
The Royal Bengal Tiger is categorized as “Endangered” in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species. Tigers in Nepal are distributed in five protected areas of Terai Arc Landscape covering 18 districts along with seven biological corridors in the country.
This latest photographic evidence of the Bengal tiger in eastern Nepal’s red panda habitat emphasizes the need for high-mountain tiger conservation, which in turn opens up a multitude of research possibilities. An in-depth effort is required to understand the tiger movement and compatibility of high-altitude ecology with tiger growth, said Sonam Lama of Red Panda Nepal.