BIOGEOGRAPHIC ZONE: HIMALAYAN ZONE

CLIMATE:
• The average summer temperature in the southern foothills is about 30 degree Celsius and the
average winter temperature is around 18 degree Celsius. In the middle Himalayan valleys the
average summer temperature is around 25 degree Celsius while the winters are really cold. And on
the higher region of the middle Himalayas the summer temperature is recorded at around 15 to 18
degree Celsius while the winters are below freezing point.
• At altitudes above 4880 m it is below freezing point and it is permanently covered with snow.
During the winter the snowfall is really heavy while the summers are much more mild and soothing.
The Himalayan Alpine climate varies according to the altitude. The more the height the more cooler
the temperature gets here.
ENDANGERED SPECIES
• Tigers and Leopards: Tigers and Leopards are the victims of illegal poaching. Their bones and skin
are in high demand, with their bones being used by the Chinese and Japanese for traditional
medicine and their skin valued for superb coats.
• Musk Deer: Musk Deer are killed for their musk, which is a powdery substance within the animal
that is used for perfumes and medicines
• Himalayan Black Bear: The Himalayan Black Bear is killed for their gall bladder, which provides the
ingredients of one of the most coveted oriental medicines.
Other endangered species include the one-horned Rhinoceros, the Wild Water Buffalo, Swamp Deer,
Pygmy Hog, Wild Elephant, Hispid Hare, Wild Yak, Snow Leopard, Red Panda and the Gharial
Crocodile.

GIANT PANDA MUNTJAC SNOW LEOPARD THAR

SAMBAR WILD YAK RED CAT BEAR MARMOT

SPECIES:
• The Himalayan region categorizes their wildlife under two subcategories: flora (plants) and fauna
(animals). Some of the main examples of flora, which are the producers, are the chir (pine), oak,
deodar, fir, rhododendron, birch, juniper, shrubs, and wildflowers and these compose the various
forests in the region, including the Sal, Teak, and Shisham. 
• Trees largely predominate the temperate belt of GHNP. The conifer species are widely distributed at
various altitudes (e.g., blue pine, cedar, spruce, and fir) in the successive low to high altitudinal
zones. Each of the upper coniferous belt has its characteristic oak which provide acorns for birds
and rodents. The white-oak is associated with Pinus roxburghii and blue pine; green-oak with fir
and spruce. Brown-oak mainly forms the pure community at the treeline.
• A number of lichens and fungi occur on the oak trees which in turn provide food material for
mammals and birds. Four species of Maple occur with a wide range of altitude from 1500-3500 m.
Aesculus, alder, poplar, birch, and willows are common near the streams.
• Some of the common fauna, which compose the primary, secondary, and tertiary
consumers are tigers, elephants, wild soar, wild goats, sheeps, wolves, crocodiles, snow leopard,
blue sheep, pythons and musk deer. There are also mosses and lichens which are the decomposers
of the biome.

Snowcock Verditer Flycatcher Monal Magpies Vulture

SOILS:
• The north-facing slopes generally have a fairly thick soil cover, supporting dense forests at lower
elevations and grasses higher up. Some of the wet deep upland soils of that type in the eastern
Himalayas—for example, in the Darjeeling Hills and in the Assam valley—have a high humus
content that is good for growing tea. 
• Podzolic soils (infertile acidic forest soils) occur in a belt some 400 miles (640 km) long in the valleys
of the Indus and its tributary the Shyok river, to the north of the Great Himalaya Range, and in
patches in Himachal Pradesh.
• Farther east, saline soils occur in the dry high plains of the Ladakh region. Of the soils that are not
restricted to any particular area, alluvial soils (deposited by running water) are the most productive,
though they occur in limited areas, such as the Vale of Kashmir, the Dehradun , and the high
terraces flanking the Himalayan valleys.
STRESSES:
• The Himalayas have not been spared human-induced biodiversity loss. People have immigrated to
the Himalayas for biodiversity and productive ecosystems. The steadily increasing population in the
hotspot has led to extensive clearing of forests and grasslands for cultivation, and widespread
logging.
• Both legal and illegal logging often occurs on extremely steep slopes, resulting in severe erosion.
Although logging has a general limit on slopes exposed to monsoons, people farm crops such as
barley, potato and buckwheat at high elevations in the inner valleys and transmontane regions, and
in some areas, such as Jumla, Kashmir, Lahoul, and Ladakh, there are major agriculturally based
population centers well above this elevation.
• The land is also often cleared in the summer months for livestock; the use of fire to clear land poses
an additional threat to forest land, as fires sometimes spread out of control. The conversion of
forests and grasslands for agriculture and settlements has led to large-scale deforestation and
habitat fragmentation in Nepal, and in the Indian States of Sikkim, Darjeeling, and Assam.
• The Himalayan biome is ever growing more polluted, due to the growing popularity of climbing the
mountains. When people go up, all their supplies are left on the mountain because it takes too
much energy to bring it down again. If someone dies, their body is left on the mountain. Poaching is
also a big problem in the Himalayas, which was described with all of the endangered species.