Phrumsengla National Park (

Dzongkha Dzongkha (; ) is a Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman language that is the official and national language of Bhutan. It is written using the Tibetan script. The word means "the language of the fortress", from ' "fortress" and ' "language ...

: ཕུརམ་སེང་ལ་རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་གླིང་ག), formerly Thrumshingla National Park, in central

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

covers just over across four

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

, but primarily in Mongar. It is bisected by the

Lateral Road The East-West Highway, also known as the Lateral Road, is Bhutan's primary east–west corridor, connecting Phuentsholing in the southwest to Trashigang in the east. In between, the Lateral Road runs directly through Wangdue Phodrang, Trongsa ...

, and contains the Thrumshing La pass.

Flora and fauna

File:Blood Pheasant Phrumsingla National Park Bhutan.jpg, flock of Blood Pheasant File:Southern Nutcracker (Nucifraga hemispila macella), Phrumsengla NP Bhutan.jpg, Southern Nutcracker Phrumsengla is a temperate park in the foothills of the

Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than 100 pea ...

, featuring large tracts of

old-growth An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without Disturbance (ecology), disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organizati ...

and

fir Firs are evergreen coniferous trees belonging to the genus ''Abies'' () in the family Pinaceae. There are approximately 48–65 extant species, found on mountains throughout much of North and Central America, Eurasia, and North Africa. The genu ...

forests, at altitudes ranging from to above sea level. Phrumsengla is home to several species of

threatened A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...

birds, namely the

rufous-necked hornbill The rufous-necked hornbill (''Aceros nipalensis'') is a species of hornbill in Bhutan, northeastern India, especially in Arunachal Pradesh, Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It is locally extinct in Nepal due to hunting and significant los ...

(''Aceros nipalensis''), the rufous-throated wren-babbler (''Spelaeornis caudatus''), the

satyr tragopan The satyr tragopan (''Tragopan satyra'') also known as the crimson horned pheasant, is a pheasant found in the Himalayan reaches of India, Tibet, Nepal and Bhutan. They reside in moist oak and rhododendron forests with dense undergrowth and bambo ...

(''Tragopan satyra''), the

beautiful nuthatch The beautiful nuthatch (''Sitta formosa'') is a bird species in the family Sittidae, collectively known as nuthatches. It is a large nuthatch, measuring in length, that is not sexually dimorphic. Its coloration and markings are dramatic, the up ...

(''Sitta formosa''),

Ward's trogon Ward's trogon (''Harpactes wardi'') is a species of bird in the family Trogonidae. Its range includes the northeastern parts of the Indian subcontinent stretching eastwards to Southeast Asia. It is found in Bhutan, India, Tibet, and Myanmar. It ...

(''Harpactes wardi'') and the

chestnut-breasted partridge The chestnut-breasted partridge (''Arborophila mandellii'') is a partridge species endemic to the eastern Himalayas north of the Brahmaputra, and occurs in Bhutan, Darjeeling, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and south-eastern Tibet at elevations from . ...

(''Arborophila mandellii''), as well as a

near-threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qu ...

species, the wedge-billed wren babbler (''Sphenocichla humei'').

Mammals A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...

in the area include various species native to

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

and the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

. There are large and small

herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat n ...

ungulates Ungulates ( ) are members of the diverse clade Euungulata ("true ungulates"), which primarily consists of large mammals with hooves. Once part of the clade "Ungulata" along with the clade Paenungulata, "Ungulata" has since been determined to b ...

, such as the

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living ''Elephas'' species. It is the largest living land animal in Asia and the second largest living Elephantidae, elephantid in the world. It is char ...

(''Elephas maximus''),

Indian rhinoceros The Indian rhinoceros (''Rhinoceros unicornis''), also known as the greater one-horned rhinoceros, great Indian rhinoceros or Indian rhino, is a species of rhinoceros found in the Indian subcontinent. It is the second largest living rhinocer ...

(''Rhinoceros unicornis'') and the

wild water buffalo The wild water buffalo (''Bubalus arnee''), also called Asian buffalo, Asiatic buffalo and wild buffalo, is a large bovine native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as ''Endangered'' in the IUCN Red List since 198 ...

(''Bubalus arnee''), as well as swamp deer, or

barasingha The barasingha (''Rucervus duvaucelii''), sometimes barasinghe, also known as the swamp deer, is a deer species distributed in the Indian subcontinent. Populations in northern and central India are fragmented, and two isolated populations occu ...

(''Rucervus duvaucelli''),

Himalayan goral The Himalayan goral (''Naemorhedus goral'') or the gray goral, is a bovid species native to the Himalayas. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List because the population is thought to be declining significantly due to habitat loss an ...

(''Naemorhedus goral''),

hog deer ''Axis'' is a genus of deer occurring in South and Southeast Asia. As presently defined by most authorities, four species are placed in the genus. Three of the four species are called hog deer. The genus name is a word mentioned in Pliny the Elde ...

(''Axis porcinus''),

mainland serow The mainland serow (''Capricornis sumatraensis'') is a species of serow native to the Himalayas, Southeast Asia and China. The mainland serow is related closely to the red serow. Taxonomy In 1831, Brian Houghton Hodgson first described a go ...

(''Capricornis sumatraensis''), and the

northern red muntjac The Northern red muntjac (''Muntiacus vaginalis'') is a species of muntjac. It is found in numerous countries of south-central and southeast Asia. The northern red muntjac inhabits various forest types, from tropical rainforests to deciduous an ...

(''Muntiacus vaginalis'').

Rodents Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

and

shrews Shrews (family Soricidae) are small mole-like mammals classified in the order Eulipotyphla. True shrews are not to be confused with treeshrews, otter shrews, elephant shrews, West Indies shrews, or marsupial shrews, which belong to diffe ...

are particularly plentiful in the region, with species including the

Bhutan giant flying squirrel The Bhutan giant flying squirrel (''Petaurista nobilis''), also known as the Gray's giant flying squirrel or noble giant flying squirrel, is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. This species lives in Himalayan forests and it is one of th ...

black giant squirrel The black giant squirrel or Malayan giant squirrel (''Ratufa bicolor'') is a large tree squirrel in the genus '' Ratufa'' native to the Indomalayan zootope. It is found in forests from northern Bangladesh, northeast India, eastern Nepal, Bhutan ...

, Himalayan pika, Himalayan striped squirrel,

Hodgson's giant flying squirrel Hodgson's giant flying squirrel (''Petaurista magnificus'') is a species of rodent in the family Sciuridae. This large flying squirrel lives in Himalayan forests in Asia. Like other flying squirrels, it is nocturnal and able to glide (not actu ...

, Irrawaddy squirrel,

large-eared pika The large-eared pika (''Ochotona macrotis'') is a species of small mammal in the family Ochotonidae. It is found in mountainous regions of Afghanistan, Tibet, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan and Tajikistan where it nests ...

moupin pika The Moupin pika (''Ochotona thibetana''), also known as Moupin-pika, and Manipuri pika,Molur, S., Srinivasulu, C., Srinivasulu, B., Walker, S., Nameer, P. O., & Ravikumar, L. (2005)Status of south Asian non-volant small mammals: conservation a ...

Pallas's squirrel Pallas's squirrel (''Callosciurus erythraeus''), also known as the red-bellied tree squirrel, is a species of squirrel native to China, Taiwan, India, and Southeast Asia. Description Pallas's squirrel is a medium-sized tree squirrel, with a ...

northern treeshrew The northern treeshrew (''Tupaia belangeri'') is a treeshrew species native to Southeast Asia. In 1841, the German zoologist Johann Andreas Wagner first used the specific name ''Cladobates belangeri'' for treeshrews that had been collected in Pe ...

and the Sikkim mouse. Several

primates Primates is an order of mammals, which is further divided into the strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and lorisids; and the haplorhines, which include tarsiers and simians ( monkeys and apes). Primates arose 74–63 ...

and

carnivores A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose nutrition and energy requirements are met by consumption of animal tissues (mainly mu ...

, including the elusive

snow leopard The snow leopard (''Panthera uncia'') is a species of large cat in the genus ''Panthera'' of the family Felidae. The species is native to the mountain ranges of Central and South Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List because ...

(''Panthera uncia'') which roams the high, inaccessible peaks, are found here as well, such as Assamese and

rhesus macaque The rhesus macaque (''Macaca mulatta''), colloquially rhesus monkey, is a species of Old World monkey. There are between six and nine recognised subspecies split between two groups, the Chinese-derived and the Indian-derived. Generally brown or g ...

s and

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

and

Gee's golden langur Gee's golden langur (''Trachypithecus geei''), also known as simply the golden langur, is an Old World monkey found in a small region of Western Assam, India and the neighboring foothills of the Black Mountains of Bhutan. Long considered sacre ...

dhole The dhole ( ; ''Cuon alpinus'') is a canid native to South, East and Southeast Asia. It is anatomically distinguished from members of the genus ''Canis'' in several aspects: its skull is convex rather than concave in profile, it lacks a third ...

Eurasian Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents dates back to antiq ...

and

smooth-coated otter The smooth-coated otter (''Lutrogale perspicillata'') is a freshwater otter species from regions of South and Southwest Asia, with the majority of its numbers found in Southeast Asia. It has been ranked as " vulnerable" on the IUCN Red List since ...

s, mainland leopard cats, and the

yellow-throated marten The yellow-throated marten (''Martes flavigula'') is a marten species native to the Himalayas, Southeast Asia, Southeast and East Asia. Its coat is bright yellow-golden, and its head and back are distinctly darker, blending together black, white, ...

. Phrumsengla has many scenic views of its forests, with elevation dictating the climate, from alpine to sub-tropical. As the soil of Phrumsengla is particularly fragile, the land is unsuitable for logging or other development, thus it is left to nature.

Tourism

The Bhutanese Trust Fund identifies excellent tourism potential for Phrumsengla, as it is bisected by Bhutan's highest motorable road, the

. Nearly 11,000 people live within the Phrumsengla area demonstrating, in the Trust Fund's opinion, the kingdom's "closest success to a harmonious balance between man and nature." The

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) is a Swiss-based international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the ...

also maintains operations in the park.

References

{{authority control Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests National parks of Bhutan Protected areas of Bhutan Protected areas established in 1998 Bumthang District Lhuntse District Mongar District Zhemgang District 1998 establishments in Bhutan Important Bird Areas of Bhutan

Flora and fauna

Tourism

See also

References