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

Keywords:

Tibetan Brown Bear Wildlife Conservation Himalayas