Rare Eurasian lynx recorded on camera traps in Sikkim
· Scroll
A Eurasian lynx has been recorded in a camera-trap image from the Tso Lhamo plateau in Sikkim. This encounter marks the first confirmed photographic evidence of the species in the state. It is also the second such record from the Eastern Himalayas. The image, captured in January 2026 at an altitude of 5,250 metres in Mangan district, shows the animal moving across a rocky, sparsely vegetated high-altitude slope.
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The sighting comes from a long-term snow leopard and rangeland monitoring programme led by the Sikkim forest department and WWF-India. The initiative tracks snow leopards and associated wildlife while studying the ecological condition of the trans-Himalayan rangelands.
The Sikkim record follows a 2025 photographic documentation of a Eurasian lynx in Arunachal Pradesh during a joint survey by WWF-India and the Arunachal Pradesh forest department.
“It highlights the ecological significance of our high-altitude rangelands and reinforces our commitment to protecting these fragile ecosystems. The cooperation of the Lachen Dzumsa (traditional local self-governance body) in facilitating access to these remote areas has been important to this work,” Sikkim’s Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Udai Gurung, said in a press note.
A meeting point of two biological worlds
For researchers, the record adds to the limited scientific understanding of Tso Lhamo, a high-altitude...