Mount Everest has the highest peak in the world, with 8848.86 meters above sea level, and growing at a rate of five millimeters per year. At that altitude, the air is so rarefied and temperatures are so extreme that few living things are able to complete their life cycle.
Mammals on Everest
Among the fauna that lives on the slopes of Everest, some well-known animals stand out. At elevations between 900 and 4,000 meters we encounter a species of goat called the Himalayan goral ( Naemorhedus goral ). The Tibetan bear ( Ursus thibetanus ), a species classified as vulnerable, lives at elevations of up to 4,300 meters above sea level. The area over which this animal was distributed stretched from southern Iran to Javarovsk Krai, on the eastern coast of Russia, although it is currently extinct in much of the territory. For its part, the red panda ( Ailurus fulgens ), a species classified as in danger of extinction, lives between 2,500 and 4,800 meters of altitude.
Soaring up the steep slopes, another species of goat, the Himalayan tar ( Hemitragus jemlahicus ) is capable of climbing up to 5,200 meters. At that same altitude you can find specimens of Royle’s pika ( Ochotona roylei ), a lagomorph —from the same group as hares and rabbits— that served as inspiration to create the most famous of the ‘pokemon’: Pikachu .
But animals can still be found at higher altitudes. There are specimens of the snow leopard ( Panthera uncia ), which during its migrations can rise from 500 to 5,800 meters in altitude. It is estimated that there are less than 3,300 individuals of this iconic felid left.
The birds of Everest
Birds on Everest have a certain advantage; most of them fly. At altitudes of up to 4,500 meters you can find the bloody pheasant ( Ithaginis cruentus ) and the redstart monal ( Lophophorus impejanus ), birds with brightly colored plumage.
The birds that reach higher altitudes are the vultures, specifically two species: the Himalayan vulture ( Gyps himalayensis ), which can fly at altitudes of up to 5,500 meters, and the bearded vulture ( Gypaetus barbatus ), a species present in the Iberian Peninsula, and that on Everest it can reach 7500 meters of altitude in flight, although it generally nests much lower.
Although it is said that the Indian goose ( Anser indicus ) can reach a greater height during its migratory flight over the Himalayas, the truth is that no flights have been recorded above 7,290 meters — a not insignificant height, which requires very specific adaptations to tolerate the extreme conditions of such a high altitude—, and at rest it does not inhabit territories above 5,000 meters.
Not all living things on Everest are large animals
Although there is very little invertebrate fauna in the Himalayan peaks, there is a spider that has managed to adapt to such an inhospitable habitat. The Himalayan jumping spider ( Euophrys omnisuperstes ) has been found at 6,700 meters in altitude on the high slopes of Everest. Taking into account that it is an altitude only surpassed by the flight of some birds, and that in all cases, they always nest below this level, it can be affirmed that this spider is the animal that lives permanently at the highest altitude in the world. Since there are no live insects there, it feeds on insects that arrive blown by the wind—usually frozen—from lower altitudes.
As far as plant communities are concerned, the arboreal plants that reach a higher altitude on Everest is the weeping juniper ( Juniperus recurva ), of which there are isolated specimens up to 4400 meters. However, there are bushes forming an alpine belt that can reach up to 5,500 meters, made up of various species of the Rhododendron genus . Herbaceous plants, such as Kobresia pygmaea , manage to form populations that rise up to 500 meters more. From that altitude, the plants stop forming communities to appear more dispersed.
On the southern face of the mountain, the warmest, specimens of Lecidea vorticosa and Pertusaria bryontha can be found up to 7,400 meters; plants at higher altitudes for which we have records. The most extreme lichens on Everest have been located in the same altitude range. Up to 92 species have been identified. However, there are no records of macroscopic life above that apparent barrier.
The ubiquitous bacteria continue to break records . As far as it has been studied —up to 8000 meters, at the moment— populations of Actinobacteria , Proteobacteria and other groups have been found in the perpetual ice and snowy slopes of Everest.
References:
Bhusal, K. et al. 2020. Estimating Numbers of Himalayan Griffon and Bearded Vulture in Langtang National Park, Central Nepal. 9, 27-30. IUCN. 2022. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2021-3.
Liu, Y. et al. 2007. Microbial community structure in major habitats above 6000 m on Mount Everest. Chinese Science Bulletin, 52(17), 2350-2357. DOI: 10.1007/s11434-007-0360-4
Miehe, G. 1988. Vegetation patterns on Mount Everest as influenced by monsoon and föhn. Vegetatio, 79(1), 21-32. DOI: 10.1007/BF00044845
Prins, H. H. T. et al. 2017. Bird Migration across the Himalayas: Wetland Functioning amidst Mountains and Glaciers. Cambridge University Press.
West, J. B. 2021. High Altitude Limits of Living Things. High Altitude Medicine & Biology, 22(3), 342-345. DOI: 10.1089/ham.2020.0212
