Tigers of the High Himalayas

[Ashutosh]

These tigers are fascinating. It will be incredibly tough to study them, radiocollaring them would be a pipe dream. All across the Himalayas, from Uttarakhand to Arunachal, they have a very unique body structure. Shorter, but very robust and looks like a Bengal-Amur hybrid with thick fur and thicker tails than their lowland counterparts.

Also, their food intake would be so different as they are at a higher altitude and therefore burn more calories in even the simplest of tasks but there aren’t many big prey available (the eastern Himalayas does have takin), so how are they maintaining that size?

Also, has their body evolved certain tools to counter the lower oxygen levels like snow leopards. Plus, what is their interaction with the likes of Asiatic Black bear and if this is a rigid population base or are they flexible depending on seasonal changes. So many questions.

They undoubtedly have large skulls, larger than most subpopulations. Reply