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Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary is a
The sanctuary represents the easternmost temperate
wildlife sanctuary
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...
in Bhutan, located in Merak and Sakteng Gewogs of Trashigang District
Trashigang District ( Dzongkha: བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: ''Bkra-shis-sgang rdzong-khag''; also spelled "Tashigang") is Bhutan's easternmost dzongkhag (district).
Culture
The population of the district ...
and just crossing the border into Samdrup Jongkhar District
Samdrup Jongkhar District ( Dzongkha: བསམ་གྲུབ་ལྗོངས་མཁར་རྫོང་ཁག་; Wylie: ''Bsam-grub Ljongs-mkhar rdzong-khag'') is one of the 20 dzongkhags (districts) comprising Bhutan. The dominant langua ...
. It is one of the country's protected areas
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
and is listed as a tentative site in Bhutan's Tentative List for UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
inclusion.
The sanctuary has three ranges: Merak Range, Sakteng Range, and Joenkhar Range. Sakteng Range is the largest range with an area of 333.67 sq.km, followed by Merak Range (287.352 sq.km) and Joenkhar Range (121.442 sq.km).
Flora and fauna
The sanctuary represents the easternmost temperate ecosystems
An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...
and landscapes of Bhutan, and is part of the Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests
The Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests is a temperate coniferous forests terrestrial ecoregion, ecoregion which is found in the middle and upper elevations of the eastern Middle Himalayas, in western Nepal, Bhutan, and northern Indian sta ...
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...
. It protects several endemic species
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
including the eastern blue pine, ''Meconopsis merakensis var. merakensis'', the black-rumped magpie
The black-rumped magpie (''Pica bottanensis'') is a species of magpie found in central Bhutan to west-central China. It was formerly classified as a subspecies of the Eurasian magpie (''Pica pica'').
A molecular phylogenetic study published ...
, and the endangered Himalayan red panda
The red panda (''Ailurus fulgens''), also known as the lesser panda, is a small mammal native to the eastern Himalayas and southwestern China. It has dense reddish-brown fur with a black belly and legs, white-lined ears, a mostly white muzzle ...
, ''A. f. fulgens.''
Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary was created in part to protect the ''migoi'', a yeti
The Yeti ()"Yeti"
''
''
cryptid whose existence has not been scientifically confirmed, but in which the local population strongly believes. The ''migoi'' are believed to haunt the northern part of the area.
India proposes to build road in Bhutan’s ‘Yeti territory’ which China claimed recently
Economic Times, 15 Jul 2020.
Territorial dispute
According to Tenzing Lamsang, editor ofThe Bhutanese
''The Bhutanese'' is a newspaper based in Bhutan. It was founded by the investigative journalist Tenzing Lamsang in February 2012. Originally it was published bi-weekly on Wednesdays and Saturdays but, since August 2013, only weekly on Saturdays ...
, in all official Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
maps, the sanctuary is shown to be Chinese territory. The area including Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary made news in June 2020 when the Chinese government reaffirmed that it is a territory disputed between China and Bhutan. Bhutan rejected the assertion, and denied that China had ever laid claim to the area in the past.
In July 2020, the Indian Border Roads Organisation
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is a road construction executive force in India that provides support to and is now a part of the Indian Armed Forces. BRO develops and maintains road networks in India's border areas and friendly neighboring ...
was tasked with building new strategic roads to connect eastern Bhutan to western Tawang
Tawang is a town and administrative headquarter of Tawang district in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The town was once the capital of the Tawang Tract, which is now divided into the Tawang district and the West Kameng district. Tawan ...
area such as Lumla
Lumla is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous circle in the Tawang district in Arunachal Pradesh, India. Lumla is at the southwestern corner of the Tawang district close to its border with Bhutan. Lumla is also the headquarters of a subd ...
-Trashigang
Trashigang ( dz, བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་།), or Tashigang, meaning "fortress of auspicious mount," is a town in eastern Bhutan and the district capital of the Trashigang Dzongkhag (district).
The town lies to the east side of the ...
road through Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary.Economic Times, 15 Jul 2020.
See also
*List of protected areas of Bhutan
The protected areas of Bhutan are its national parks, nature preserves, and wildlife sanctuaries. Most of these protected areas were first set aside in the 1960s, originally covering most of the northern and southern regions of Bhutan. Today, pro ...
References
Protected areas established in 2003 Wildlife sanctuaries of Bhutan Protected areas of Bhutan Trashigang District Samdrup Jongkhar District {{Asia-protected-area-stub