Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, Nepal Photograph by Chris Carpenter   South-Central Eurasia, stretching through parts of Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, and Nepal Montane Grasslands and Shrublands   46,800 square miles (121,200 square kilometers) -- about the size of Mississippi Relatively Stable/Intact

· Snow and Blooms
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern

Snow and Blooms

Ancient wanderers named the highest mountain range in the world "Himalaya." This Sanskrit word means "abode of snow." But it's not all snow all the time. The Eastern Himalayan alpine meadows are lush and green and contain many species of plants and animals that can't be found anywhere else.

Special Features

The Eastern Himalayan Alpine Meadows take on the look of a florist's shop in the spring and summer as the rich alpine floral displays bloom. The bright-yellow flower stalk of the noble rhubarb, Rheum nobile (Polygonaceae) towers over all the low herbs and shrubs and is visible from across the valleys of the Himalayan slopes. More than 7,000 species exist in the ecoregion, triple the number in other alpine meadows in the Himalayas. And among the Indo-Pacific ecoregions, only the renowned rain forests of Borneo are believed to have a richer flora.

	Don't let its size fool you. The snow leopard is an opportunistic predator, capable of killing prey up to three times its own weight. Not all dogs communicate by barking. The Asiatic wild dog, or dhole, uses different ways of communicating, such as screaming, meowing, and clucking. And when members of a pack are separated, they find each other by whistling.

Wild Side

Several types of rhododendrons fill the air with their strong, sweet aroma. Two threatened plants, Lactuca cooperi and Juncus sikkimensis, grow only in these meadows. Butterflies of many colors and sizes can be seen flying about. Many birds, such as the Tibetan snowcock and the Himalayan monal, find plenty of places to nest and hunt insects here. A species of goral -- a goat-like-antelope -- live only in this ecoregion, and they have many mammal neighbors, including the snow leopard, wolf, and Asiatic wild dog.

Cause for Concern

Population growth and increased tourism have put pressure on remaining wild areas in the eastern Himalayan ecoregion. Too many people remove native plants and trekking staff often cut slow-growing shrubs for firewood. Livestock also graze and trample the native plants. As the region becomes more developed, natural resources continue to be threatened by such projects as energy-harnessing dams on regional waterways. Air and water pollution are also becoming problems.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.