Asia
Nepal compresses one of the most extreme altitudinal gradients on the planet into less than two hundred kilometres of width: from the subtropical plains of the Terai, little more than sixty metres above sea level, to Everest, at almost eight thousand nine hundred. That sequence strings together sal forests and elephant grass plains in the south, rhododendron and oak woods in the middle belt, conifers and birch in the high mountains, and finally rock, glaciers and permanent snow. In the Terai, Chitwan and Bardia hold Indian rhinoceroses, tigers, elephants and gharials; in the heights live the snow leopard, the red panda and the blue sheep. The country has committed to a model of community forests that has reversed deforestation across wide areas.
National animal: The cow is the national animal and the Himalayan monal the national bird
In the 1990s, the vultures of South Asia collapsed with unprecedented speed: more than ninety-five per cent disappeared in little over a decade because a veterinary anti-inflammatory given to livestock caused kidney failure in them when they fed on the dead animals. Nepal banned the drug and created vulture restaurants, feeding stations offering only drug-free carcasses, and its populations have begun to recover.
Nepal has almost tripled its tiger population in little more than a decade, from little over a hundred to some three hundred and fifty animals, and has strung together several years without rhinoceros poaching. Community forest management is its main conservation tool.
Chitwan and Bardia between February and May for rhinoceroses and tigers. Annapurna and Langtang in spring for rhododendrons in bloom and mountain birds. The heights of Dolpo in winter for snow leopard.
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Same region: South Asia
Same region: South Asia
Same region: South Asia
Same region: South Asia
146 species found
Based on what we already know about Nepal.