Tiger sighting above 3,000m altitude in Nepal raises concerns about climate change impact

In a rare and unusual development, forest officials sighted a Royal Bengal Tiger at an altitude of 3,165 metres above sea level in Nepal. This first time ever incident has raised concerns about climate change and the impact of global warming on wildlife habitat. According to ANI reports, Nepal’s departments of forest and soil conservation, and national parks and wildlife conservation reported the strange sighting of the gigantic cat atop a mountain, unsure whether it had attempted to flee its natural habitat. While the authorities were probing the cause, they added that the region had also recorded unusual sightings of lynxes, lately. 

"The majestic Royal Bengal Tiger (Panthera Tigris), the largest of all Asian big cats, was captured on November 13 and November 21 at an elevation of 3,165 m by a camera trap set up in a forest in Illam district of eastern Nepal," the two departments said in a joint statement. "It is the country’s very first photographic evidence of tiger sighting in the mountains of the eastern region," it added.

Nepal's Forest Department stressed that the sighting at the high Himalayan altitude indicated that the Kanchenjunga Landscape in eastern Nepal needed 'special attention'. The forests provide connectivity to India’s Singalia National Park in north Sikkim and Dooars in North Bengal, the officials said in the release, adding that the sighting of the wild predatory animal could be life-threatening. 

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Impact of global warming on habitat

Earlier, a study by Bangladesh and Australian researchers indicated that due to the rising global warming, at least 50 years from now in 2070, the Bengal tigers in the Sundarbans mangroves are feared to drastically perish due to the rising sea levels. The researchers predicted that the forest stretch along the India-Bangladesh border will only be minutely habitable for the carnivore after survival becomes difficult for the Royal Bengal tigers in the mangrove forests.

According to the study, the Sundarbans mangrove ecosystem, located in India and Bangladesh will have a substantial loss of the forest area by the year 2100 as the sea levels rise due to increasing greenhouse gas concentrations, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted. It added that 96.2 percent and 99.4 percent of Bengal tiger habitats in the area will wipe out in 2050 and 2070. 

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(Image Credit: ANI)