Elephants in Arunachal Pradesh scale new heights at an elevation of 3,266 metres

World's highest elephant habitat documented atop 3,266 meter in Arunachal Pradesh Three jumbos were camera trapped inside Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary between December 2025 and May 2026

Guwahati: Elephants seem to be scaling new heights, with conservationists recently recording a herd of jumbos at an elevation of 3,266 metres in Arunachal Pradesh, the highest known elephant presence documented anywhere in the world.

A herd of three elephants was camera-trapped by a joint team of conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature, India (WWF, India) and the Arunachal Pradesh forest department inside Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in West Kameng district, between December 2025 and May 2026. Three elephants were camera-trapped in two separate photos, the group said. 

"The region is rich in dwarf bamboo (Arundinaria sp.) and contains several wetlands and high-altitude lakes, which seem to attract elephants to such elevated terrain. But a further study is required to understand the reasons why they are moving to such high altitudes," a WWF, India official told DH.

The exercise was part of a statewide assessment to document elephant distribution, human-elephant conflict hotspots, habitat pressures and landscape connectivity. The assessment, done between December 2024 and March 2026, represents the first comprehensive effort to understand the scale, intensity and trends of adverse human-elephant interactions across Arunachal Pradesh.

Northeast India, with its hills, mountains and forests, is one of the largest habitats for Asian elephants, with the region recording 10,139 jumbos (out of 30,000 recorded across India). Arunachal Pradesh has 1,614 elephants spread across 12,000 square kilometres in 17 districts (out of the total 28 districts).

Elephants predominantly occupy the state’s forested landscapes, including subtropical broadleaf and moist deciduous forests, as well as barren and agricultural tracts that they may use for movement or foraging. They are recorded to migrate between Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam. Based on the 2017 assessment of elephant distribution, four population clusters were identified: Khellong forest division to Banderdewa forest division, Banderdewa to Yingkiong, Pasighat to Lohit, and Anjaw to Kanubari forest division.

However, in the present study, and based on the records of elephant signs as provided by the Arunachal Pradesh forest department, the current elephant range is found to be greater than the estimated range in 2017. While elephants were found to be distributed over 7,001 sq km in 2019, the current study estimates it to be 12,446 sq km, which represents a 78% increase.

The report, 'Managing Human-Elephant Conflict in Arunachal Pradesh', noted that changes in land‑use patterns — driven by expanding human settlements, infrastructure projects, oil palm cultivation, habitat degradation and the loss of ecological connectivity — have led to a rise in conflict. The state recorded 1,503 such cases between 2018 and 2024, 2% of which involved human fatalities, while 17 elephants died in the same period.

Historically, elephant distribution was concentrated in the foothill regions, with occasional movement up to altitudes of 2,000 metres.