Tigers Found In High Himalayas
Posted by: Loren Coleman on September 24th, 2010
In recent days, the UK’s Telegraph, the BCC and other sources have discussed the discovery of the recovery of lost tigers.
The footage of the tigers was featured in the documentary, Lost Land of the Tiger, which was shown in three parts this week on BBC One.
Tigers have recently been filmed in the mountains of Bhutan, giving the first solid evidence that the endangered species can survive at high altitudes. Camera traps set by the BBC, which has been capturing footage for months, has recorded a male tiger and a female tiger at an altitude of approximately 13,450 feet. The male was seen marking territory, indicating that the pair are not just passing through, which was thought to be the case with earlier evidence of tigers in the area.
Thanks to Miguel, who forwarded this news tip and said: “We now know what happened to the Yeti: he was eaten by tigers! ;)”
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
It mentioned Yetis a couple of times in the documentary, makes you think if these large tigers go unnoticed to the wider world so could an ape in this area. They caught images of many large rare animals in the area and even amazing footage of a Snow Leopard cub been left hidden and came right up to the camera trap, snow leopards are very rare to see. Bhutan is just teeming with life.
Why wasn’t this on the ‘Deadliest Catch’?
Great news, maybe those individuals belong to a new subspecies. But I’m afraid they are not safe from poachers even in this environment. It would be also exciting if they find the tibetan blue bear in the same area.
Well the hope if that they are safe there, the team the BBC team and scientists involved have kept the location secret and the People of Bhutan don’t believe in hunting and have a belief that wildlife is important and it’s part of their mythos being Buddhist. So they are hoping this will be a stronghold against paochets and form a large central breeding area and safe haven for the tigers along the tiger corridor planned by Panthera. So fingers crossed this will help save Tigers which could be gone in the next 10 or 20’s in the wild; the discovery itself has increased the known population alone already. :O)
Very interesting news. I wonder if these particular tigers have been there all along or if they were indeed just passing through and decided to stick around.
Indeed. Or perhaps they have been forced to seek new habitats that are more secluded and inhospitable.
The same BBC team was also fortunate enough to get a baby snow leopard approach their camera, which was almost melted by its furry cuteness:
These kind of news are of a bittersweet flavor to me. They sadden me because they force you to be aware of how close these animals are of total extinction; yet they rekindle a small fire of hope.
And these technological feats also give me hope about the eventual discovery of the Yeti. Maybe the only reason that prevented the BBC team from capturing a mysterious hominid instead of these furry felines, it’s because they were not using IR night-vision equipment?
Whatever the case, these footages show there’s yet much to discover in the Himalayas. And that if an animal as big enough as a tiger can survive up there, well… anything’s possible! 🙂
Well from local reports and the names of some places like Tiger Mountain they have been there all along it was just science being blind saying no tigers can’t live at such a high altitude but now they have the evidence in scent marking and stuff to say this is not an anomaly.
“Thanks to Miguel, who forwarded this news tip and said: “We now know what happened to the Yeti: he was eaten by tigers! ”
Actually, the food remains in the dens of these tigers may well provide the jaw fragment (or other item) that will prove beyond any doubt that the yeti exists (or went extinct very recently).
I am not sure if tigers bring their prey back to their dens to be eaten but if they do, these dens may be worth investigating. After all, we know of gigantopithecos from jaws that were preserved because they were taken by scavengers to their burrows.
In the programme carcasses in the area that were clearly eaten by cats (they eat the back end) were left were they were killed. I suppose in that region the predators have no need to move or protect their food.
Usually the size of the animals killed by big cats precludes their bringing them back to a den. They kill smaller animals to feed small young that can’t travel with them.
That said, looking in dens for evidence isn’t a total flush. Parts of kills can be carried, by both adults and young.
I wonder, thinking about it in this context, whether it might not be a bad idea for yeti hunters to pick up and analyze every predator or scavenger scat they come across.