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Posted by: JimB Jun 2 2006, 01:11 AM

THE HIMALAYA

(NOTE: Be sure to read the introductory article titled "The Alpine Biome" in this forum.)

The third stop on our tour of the world’s major alpine biome sites is Asia’s Himalaya mountain system. The name is from Sanskrit, a compound of “hima” meaning “snow” and “ālaya” meaning “abode.” The Himalaya stretch across a sixth of the earth’s circumference – about 1,490 mi. (2400 km) – across five nations: Bhutan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Their width varies between 155 and 190 mi. (250 and 306 km).


The Himalaya and Mount Everest (in center) as seen from space.
Public photo courtesy of NASA.

The Himalaya mountain system is the Earth’s highest – home to all 14 of the world’s highest peaks. Mount Everest is the highest, reaching 29,035 ft. (about 5.5 mi. or 8.9 km) above sea level. Its height was revised upward by 7 ft. (2.1 m) in 1999 based on GPS measurements.

The Himalaya is a young giant among mountain ranges, formed as a result of a continental collision caused by plate tectonics about 50 million years ago. The Indian Plate continues to be driven below the Eurasian Plate, which forced the “India” land mass into the Eurasian continent, crumpling their edges into the Himalaya mountain system and forcing the Tibetan Plateau upwards. India continues to move at 2.6 in. (67 mm) per year and over the next 10 million years will travel about 932 mi. (1500 km) farther into Asia.


Collision between the Indian and Eurasian Plates
pushed up the Himalaya and the Tibetan Plateau.
Public image courtesy of USGS.

The Himalaya mountain system encompasses a great number of glaciers, notable among which are those in the Bhutan-Himalaya region, as shown below.


Glaciers and glacial lakes in the Bhutan-Himalaya region.
Public photo courtesy of NASA.

Glacial lakes have been rapidly forming on the surface of the glaciers in this region in the last few decades. NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey researchers have found a strong correlation between increasing global temperatures and glacial retreat, indicated by comparisons of satellite images and historical data of this and other mountain regions.

The Himalaya mountains rise abruptly, resulting in a diversity of biomes ranging from grasslands and subtropical broadleaf forests to alpine meadows above the tree line, which in turn yields to alpine tundra below the permanent snow line.

The alpine biomes in the high mountains of Central Asia are the summer habitat of the snow leopard (Uncia uncial). This rare cat is so stealthy that it is almost never seen, but has been photographed by hidden cameras at 19,000 ft. (5800 m), making the snow leopard the highest living predator on Earth.


Endangered snow leopard (Uncia uncia).
Free photo from Stock.XCHNG at:
http://www.sxc.hu/

You can tell a lot about how snow leopards live just by looking at them. From their noses to their thick, furry tails, snow leopards are well adapted for their cold, rugged mountain environment. Snow leopards have enlarged nasal cavities to help them warm the cold air they breathe and their powerful lungs and large chest capacity help them get enough oxygen from the thin mountain air.

The snow leopard’s fur is dense and woolly to help it stay warm in its bitterly cold habitat. The fur on its belly can be 5 in. (12 cm) long. The white, yellowish, or smoky-gray fur with black spots and rosettes gives the cat excellent camouflages against the rocky slopes, helping it sneak up on prey. Like snowshoes, the snow leopard’s paws are large with fur between its pads, helping it to walk on snow.

An adult snow leopard weighs between 77 and 121 lbs. (35 and 55 kg), stands about 24 in. (60 cm) tall at the shoulder, and measures 6 to 7.5 ft. (1.8 to 2.3 m) from its head to the tip of its tail. Males are generally about 30 percent larger than females, but otherwise the two sexes look alike.

The snow leopard’s short fore limbs and long hind limbs give it agility in its steep and rugged environment. The Himalayan blue sheep or “bharal” (Pseudois navaur) and the Siberian ibex (Capra ibex siberica), a wild goat found throughout the major mountain ranges of Central Asia, are the cat’s primary prey. These mountain sheep and goats are extremely agile and the snow leopard must match them in order to survive. Jumping confidently onto narrow ledges and barreling down steep slopes is all in a day’s hunt for snow leopards. The cat’s powerful hind limbs help it leap up to 30 ft. (9 m) – six times its body length. A snow leopard is able to kill prey three times its own weight and haul it up steep slopes using the strength of its well-developed chest muscles.

The snow leopard’s thick furry tail is up to 40 in. (1 m) long, nearly as long as the rest of its body. The tail helps in balancing, much the same way that humans stretch out their arms for better balance when they walk on a log across a stream, for example. A snow leopard will sometimes wrap its tails around its body and face, like a cozy muffler, for warmth while resting.

The World Conservation Union’s (IUCN’s) Red List of Threatened Species lists the snow leopard as “Endangered,” the same classification as the panda and the tiger. They are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), an international treaty that makes trafficking in live cats, fur, or body parts illegal. In 1996, an estimated 3,500 to 7,000 snow leopards were left in the wild and 600 to 700 were in zoos around the world. In 2002, another study revealed a sharp decline from the previous numbers. Hunting was fingered as the main cause of the population decline. Snow leopards have been targeted for their pelts, for use in traditional medicines, and in retaliation for killing livestock.

The highest altitude a vertebrae has ever been seen is above the top of Mount Everest. That vertebrae is a bird – a red-billed chough, or just chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax). In winter, it comes down from the upper reaches of the Himalaya to altitudes of about 6,560 ft. (2000 m).


A red-billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax).
Public photo from Wikipedia at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chough

The chough is a member of the crow family. Pronunciation of its name probably comes from the old Cornish – “chow” (as in “bough”). It breeds mainly in high mountains and on coastal sea cliffs of Great Britain, the Isle of Man, Ireland, southern Europe and the Mediterranean basin, the Alps, and in mountains across central Asia, India and China. There also is an isolated population in the Ethiopian Highlands.

The red-billed chough is 14.5 to 16 in. (37 to 41 cm) in length and has a 27 to 31.5 in. (68 to 80 cm) wingspan. Its glossy black plumage, long curved red bill and red legs distinguish it from all other birds. It is often quite tame.

(NOTE: To continue the tour of major alpine biomes, see the article titled "The Rift Mountains" in this forum.)

--JimB