Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary

Inside this wildlife sanctuary, the primary ecoregions and their corresponding biomes are:

• Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands of the tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome,
• Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests of the tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome,
• Himalayan subtropical pine forests of the tropical and subtropical coniferous forests biome,
• Eastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests of the temperate coniferous forests biome, and
• Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows of the montane grasslands and shrublands biome

All of these are typical of the Bhutan - Nepal - India hilly region.

Birds at Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary include kalij pheasant, Oriental honey buzzard, blood pheasant, white-crested laughingthrush, striated laughingthrush, chestnut-crowned laughingthrush, bar-throated minla, red-tailed minla, white-browed shrike babbler, white-browed fulvetta, rufous sibia, whiskered yuhina, stripe-throated yuhina, rufous-vented yuhina, brown dipper, rusty-flanked treecreeper, dark-rumped rosefinch, little bunting, etc. It is also home for some rarities like the speckled wood pigeon and bay woodpecker.[3]

• 
  Blue-fronted redstart (Phoenicurus frontalis)
• 
  White-crested laughingthrush (Garrulax leucolophus)
• 
  White-capped redstart (Chaimarrornis leucocephalus)

Mammals some of the exotic species from North-East India are present in this wildlife sanctuary. The red panda, the state mammal of Sikkim and one of the most elusive creature from northern forests lives here. Asiatic black bear, yellow-throated marten, takin and red fox are also present in this wildlife sanctuary. Some very commonly seen mammals in this sanctuary are the Himalayan striped squirrel and hoary bellied squirrel of Callosciurus genus.

Sightings of a Royal Bengal tiger in the Sanctuary has been reported through 2 images captured by camera traps laid by the forest Officials. The camera captured two images of the tiger on the night of December 6, 2018 - at 6.23 pm and at 7 pm, near Goru Jurey, at an altitude of 9,583 feet, according to the DFO of the region. The official also stated that there had been oral narratives of tigers freely roaming in the forests of Sikkim until the late 1980s. And on January 2, 2019, at 4:22 PM, the camera recorded a snow leopard in the same spot. This very elusive and shy animal had earlier been captured on camera in the northern and western parts of Sikkim. However, this is the first photographic capture of a snow leopard in East Sikkim.

This image capture of both, the Bengal Tiger and the Snow Leopard, in exactly the same location confirms the overlap in the migratory routes used by the two big cats inside Pangolakha, having migrated from the neighbouring Neora Valley National Park of West Bengal, it's been further reported by the Divisional Forest Officer.

Diverse ecology of Pangolakha WLS; it starts at 1,300 meters and goes up to 4,000 meters. Here one can see Dwarf Junipers, Abies, Rhododendron shrubs, Pine etc.

The State Forest Department has set up Eco-Development Committees (EDCs) around all wildlife protected areas. In this IBA an EDC has been set up in the villages of Mankhim, Dalepchand, Lingtam, Phadamchen, Zuluk and Gnathang.[5]