A herd of eight Mishmi takins (Budorcas taxicolor) was filmed in North Sikkim’s Tingda Reserve Forest (Bakuchen area, Mangan) on 14 June 2026 at about 1:39 pm, the first confirmed record from this locality in over 20 years.
The Sighting
- Date & Location: 14 June 2026; Bakuchen area, Tingda Reserve Forest, Mangan district, North Sikkim.
- Group Size & Evidence: Herd of eight; first-ever video footage from this locality; largest group recorded in the Sikkim locality.
- Survey Details: Footage recorded during a joint inspection and patrolling exercise by state forest authorities and tourism department teams.
Species Profile
- Scientific name: Budorcas taxicolor (Mishmi takin).
- IUCN status: Vulnerable (IUCN Red List).
- Habitat: Alpine and subalpine meadows and mixed conifer–rhododendron forests at high elevations.
Distribution & Conservation Relevance
- Range limit: Sikkim represents the westernmost confirmed limit of the species’ global distribution.
- Biogeographic context: Part of the eastern Himalaya assemblage within the Eastern Himalaya biodiversity hotspot.
- Indicator value: Presence used as an indicator of alpine ecosystem integrity and ecological connectivity across the eastern Himalayas.
- National occurrence: With this record, Sikkim hosts all three Indian goat‑antelopes — takin (Budorcas), serow (Capricornis) and goral (Naemorhedus).
IASPOINT Booster Facts
- Data use: Camera/video records are primary occurrence data for range mapping and IUCN assessments.
- Hotspot: Eastern Himalaya is a designated global biodiversity hotspot (Conservation International).
- Taxonomy note: Budorcas taxicolor comprises several subspecies distributed across the eastern Himalaya and adjacent regions.