Eurasian Lynx Photographed at 17,400 ft on Sikkim’s Tso Lhamo Plateau

In January 2026 a camera trap on the Tso Lhamo plateau in Sikkim’s Mangan district captured a Eurasian lynx at over 17,400 feet. This is the first confirmed photographic evidence of the species in the state and only the second record from the Eastern Himalayas, after a 2025 sighting in Arunachal Pradesh. The image was obtained through a snow-leopard and rangeland monitoring program run by the Sikkim Forest Department with WWF-India.

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The Tso Lhamo landscape sits at the junction of the trans-Himalayan range and the Tibetan Plateau, forming an ecotone where species from distinct high-altitude habitats overlap. Camera traps have also documented snow leopard, Pallas’s cat, Tibetan wolf, sand fox, gazelle, argali and southern kiang, indicating a functioning predator-prey system. Researchers say the lynx’s presence challenges the view of these rangelands as barren deserts and highlights their role as a biogeographic bridge.

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The photograph confirms the lynx’s presence but does not reveal whether a resident or breeding population exists. WWF-India’s Himalayas Programme head notes that only a single record has been obtained after several years of intensive camera trapping, leaving distribution, population size and residency status uncertain. Experts recommend expanding camera-trap coverage and adding non-invasive genetic sampling to clarify lynx ecology, movement patterns and threats.

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The plateau remains ecologically functional but faces pressures from tourism, road traffic, waste and free-ranging dogs. Packs of dogs can prey on wildlife, compete with native carnivores and transmit diseases such as canine distemper, which could decimate wild felid populations. Road traffic raises collision risk, while open waste dumps may alter animal behavior and heighten human-wildlife conflict.

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• “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

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• “High-altitude rangelands like Tso Lhamo have long been dismissed as empty, barren, cold deserts of little ecological consequence. The presence of a wide-ranging predator like the lynx is direct evidence against that view. These are functioning, productive ecosystems, and Tso Lhamo in particular works as a biogeographic bridge between two very different biological worlds,” — Rohan Pradeep Pandit

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• “What we have so far is a single photographic record after several years of intensive camera trapping, which means we cannot yet say whether the lynx is a resident, breeding animal on the plateau, or an occasional disperser moving through from the Tibetan side,” — Rishi Kumar Sharma, WWF-India

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• “These dogs hunt in packs. They compete directly with wild carnivores for prey, actively attack smaller wild species, and act as vectors for diseases like canine distemper, which can wipe out wild feline populations overnight,” — Rishi Kumar Sharma, WWF-India

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