Tibetan Brown Bear
Published on 09 Apr 2025
- A rare and elusive bear, the Tibetan brown bear, has been recently sighted in Sikkim, making it the first confirmed record of the animal being sighted in India.
- Also known as the Tibetan blue bear, is one of the rarest subspecies of bears in the world and is rarely sighted in the wild.
- Historically found mainly on the alpine eastern Tibetan plateau (4,500 to 5,000 metres) in eastern Tibet, western China, Nepal, and Bhutan.
- Remaining bears in the wild seem to be confined to eastern Tibet and Bhutan.
- Habitat: It inhabits alpine forests, meadows, and steppes, close to the tree line.
- This rare bear is very different from the more commonly found Himalayan black bear in terms of its appearance, habitat, and behaviour.
- Its sense of smell is much more acute than its hearing and sight
- They are solitary, but the territories between two Himalayan brown bears have been seen to overlap. They are one of the most terrestrial of the bears.
- It feeds on marmots and alpine vegetation.
Conservation Status:
- IUCN: Least Concern
- CITES: Appendix I
- Wildlife Protection Act of 1972: Schedule II