High altitude tigers discovered in Bhutan

[n2doc]

A LOST POPULATION OF tigers discovered living high in the remote Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has given conservationists hope they could help prevent the extinction of these majestic creatures.

Tiger expert Dr Alan Rabinowitz, along with a BBC camera crew, made the find while investigating longstanding reports of tiger sightings by villagers. Although the animals are known to live in the foothills of the isolated country - renowned for its richly preserved Buddhist heritage - the discovery is the first documented case of tigers living above 4000m.

"It's absolutely fantastic news," Michael Baltzer, the head of the World Wildlife Fund's Tiger Network Initiative, told Australian Geographic from Kuala Lumpur. "Our own team had been looking up there but didn't find anything."

more

http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/lost-bhutan-tiger-population-rediscovered.htm

[aquart]

1. Yah. Kinda sorry they were discovered.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Don't be sorry - this might save the species

Michael says the country has done a "particularly outstanding job" of conserving its environment and this new tiger habitat might become a "tiger nursery" from which the feline could one day re-populate areas. To achieve this, Alan is advocating the creation of 'tiger corridors' - areas of protected land connecting isolated tiger populations, but Michael says the first priority must be to identify and protect existing groups of tigers.

If they couldn't breed in Bhutan, there was the danger that the populations to the west and east of them would be isolated, and could die out separately.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/20/wild-tigers-bbc-bhutan

This means that pushing for more conservation measures in the adjoining regions now looks practical.

[Orsino]

6. They got pelts...

...and high-altitude tiger wang is known to cure both altitude sickness and impotence.

Nice knowing ya, tigers. :yoiks:

[xchrom]

2. Recommend

[DirkGently]

4. Excellent. Now please don't make tea out of their genitals or whatever.

[jimlup]

5. Above 4000 m is serious altitude

These particular tigers must be robust if they live at that altitude.