The high altitude wildlife areas of western Arunachal Pradesh

The road ahead
Chapter 4
Conserving high altitude wildlife in Western Arunachal Pradesh
In this chapter, we will briefly outline the follow-up efforts that will be required to
safeguard the future of Arunachal’s high altitude wildlife. We first briefly revisit the
significant findings of our biological expedition in the high altitudes of Tawang and
West Kameng Districts. The expedition resulted in:
1. Documentation of 34 mammalian species, 12 of which are of global
conservation importance (listed as Endangered or Vulnerable in the IUCN’s
Red List of Threatened Species; Chapter 2).
2. Discovery of the Chinese goral Nemorhaedus caudatus – a mountain ungulate
previously not known to occur in the Indian sub-continent (Appendix 1).
3. Discovery of the Tawang macaque Macaca sp., which is perhaps a species new
to science (Appendix 2)
4. A check list of 150 bird species (Appendix 3).
5. Understanding of the threats to the region’s wildlife, and of peoples’
dependence on natural resources (including widespread hunting; Chapters 1
and 2).
6. Preliminary vegetation and habitat maps (Chapter 3 and Appendix 5).
7. A check list of 140 plant species (Appendix 4)
8. Identification of a suitable site for the creation of a wildlife reserve that would
protect the entire assemblage of high altitude wildlife species in western
Arunachal (Chapters 2 and 3).
Hunting is the most serious threat to wildlife in this region. Over half of the species that occur in the
region are hunted, including the Chinese pangolin Manis pentadactyla (left), clouded leopard Neofelis
nebulosa (centre), and the snow leopard Uncia uncia (right).
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