Rare bear clicked in Sikkim, may be India's first record
Times of India | 15 January 2024
KOLKATA: In probably the first photographic record from India, a Tibetan brown bear (Ursus arctos pruinosus) - the eastern Himalayan subspecies of brown bear - has been clicked in camera traps placed in high-altitude forests of northern Sikkim.
Earlier records of brown bear from India are from Uttarakhand, Himachal, Ladakh and J&K - the Himalayan brown bear (Ursus arctos isabellinus), which is the western Himalayan subspecies of brown bear.
However, scientists said a proper morphological and genetic study is a must before confirming it's a Tibetan brown bear and that this is its first photo evidence in India.
The camera traps were placed by the Sikkim forest department and WWF-India. "This is possibly the first record of Tibetan brown bear in Sikkim and also from India," said a researcher from the region.
The bear, also known as Himalayan blue bear, was photographed in Mangan district in December 2023. WWF-India's Phuchung Lachenpa said that the bear has been clicked at an altitude of 13,000ft. "We have been looking for its photographic evidence since 2020," he added.
The nomadic herders of Tso Lhamo plateau and Muguthang region had earlier shared tales of a mysterious animal stealing sugar and oil from their camps. The tales were so interesting that it fuelled myths of the Yeti in Himalayan folklores.
"I never heard of any photographic evidence of the species from India. But morphological and genetic studies need to be done to come to a conclusion. There were reports of Tibetan brown bear from Sikkim before but no photographic evidence," said Shahid Dar, research associate at Zoological Survey of India.
Historically found mainly on the alpine eastern Tibetan plateau (4,500 to 5,000 metres) in eastern Tibet, western China, Nepal and occasionally in Bhutan, it's believed that remaining bears in the wild can be confined to eastern Tibet and to Bhutan. A sighting was reported on the northern plateau near the historic border between Tibet and China in 2013. A further confirmed sighting was made in a remote valley in eastern Tibet in June 2019.
It has a distinctive yellowish, collar-like marking, which stretches from shoulders to chest.
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