Alan Rabinowitz

Lost Land of the Tiger is a three-part nature documentary series produced by the BBC Natural History Unit which follows a scientific expedition to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The expedition team is made up of specialist zoologists, explorers and the BBC crew. Together, they explore wilderness areas from the lowland jungles to high-altitude slopes, in search of rare animals and plants. The focus of the expedition is to investigate the status of the tiger in Bhutan, where little is known of the cat’s distribution or population density. Evidence of a healthy population of tigers would elevate Bhutan’s importance as a sanctuary for this endangered species. It would also support tiger conservationist Dr. Alan Rabinowitz’s proposal for a vast protected corridor linking the fragmented pockets of tiger habitat which lie to the south of the Himalayas.

The expedition is notable for obtaining the first footage of tigers living at 4,000 metres in the high Himalayas. The BBC footage shows a female tiger lactating and scent-marking, followed a few days later by a male tiger responding, suggesting that the cats could be breeding at this altitude. Previously, anecdotal sightings from Bhutanese mountain villagers suggested tigers were capable of visiting such heights, but it was not known whether they were living and breeding there. The footage was obtained using remote camera traps which are triggered by motion. This discovery dramatically increases the known range of viable tiger habitat. The camera traps also recorded footage of other rarely seen forest creatures, including Indian wild dogs, Asian elephants, leopards and leopard cats.