Tigers above 4,000m in Bhutan

Abstract

Fresh camera-trap photographs and pug-marks from Jigme Dorji National Park in northern Bhutan show that the tiger 'Panthera tigris' occurs at altitudes higher than it has ever been recorded, so high that its range overlaps that of the snow leopard 'Uncia uncia'. The tigers have been recorded up to 4,300 m. Snow leopards from the same region of Bhutan are known to occur over altitudes of 2,000-5,500 m. Bhutan is the only country where the presence of tigers has been recorded at such high altitudes, and is also the only country where the habitats of snow leopard and tiger appear to overlap.