Top Ten Mountain Animals at the Highest Heights

Believe it or not, the world isn’t flat. Yeah, we all know the earth is round but that’s not what we’re talking about here. We’re talking about slopes and hills, cliffs and mountains. We’re talking about elevation!

Everest_Luca_Galuzzi
Mount Everest. Copyright: Luca Galuzzi
 

Elevation measures how high something is above sea level (asl). Everything has an elevation, even cities. The highest point in Toronto is about 200 m asl while Calgary is over 1,000 m asl. Canada’s highest point is the Yukon’s Mount Logan (5,959 m asl) and North America’s highest point is Mouth McKinley (6,194 m asl) in Alaska. However, none of these compare to the highest point in the world, Mount Everest, standing at a towering 8,848 m asl!

 

There aren’t very many animals that live at high elevations. That’s because the higher you go, the thinner the air becomes, making it harder to breath. In this top ten we look at 10 animals that have what it takes to live at the top of the world.

*note: there are other species that live at high elevations including insects and plants. The Himalayan jumping spider (Euophrys omnisuperstes) is found at as high as 6,700 m asl and considered to have the highest home in the world.

http://www.toronto.ca/toronto_facts/geography.htm
http://www.calgary.ca/CA/fs/Documents/Plans-Budgets-and-Financial-Reports/Annual-Reports/Annual-Report-2008.pdf

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Euophrys_omnisuperstes

Brown Bear (Ursus arctos)

brown_bear_s

Where: Across North America, throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East and even North Africa
How high: Lives up to 5,000 m (16,400 ft) asl
Ref: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/41688/0

Himalayan Tahr (Hemitragus jemlahicus)

himalayan_tahr_OZinOH_s
Copyright: OZinOH

Where: China, India, Nepal
How high: Lives up to 5,000 m (16,400 ft) asl
Ref: http://www.arkive.org/himalayan-tahr/hemitragus-jemlahicus/

Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus)

lammergeier_s
Where: Southern Europe, Middle East, Northeastern China and parts of Africa
How high: Lives up to 5,000 m (16,400 ft) asl but has been spotted at 7,500 m (24,600 ft)
Ref: http://www.arkive.org/lammergeier/gypaetus-barbatus/

Tibetan sand fox (Vulpes ferrilata)

Tibet_Fox
Where: China, India, Nepal
How high: Lives up to 5,200 m (17,100 ft) asl
Ref: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/23061/0

Himalayan Marmot (Marmota himalayana)

Copyright: Christopher Fynn
Copyright: Christopher Fynn

Where: China, India, Nepal, Pakistan
How high: Lives up to 5,200 (17,100 ft) asl
Ref: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/12826/0

Kiang (Equus kiang)

kiang_s
Where: China, India, Nepal, Pakistan
How high: Lives up to 5,400 m (17,700 ft) asl
Ref: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/7953/0

Chiru (Pantholops hodgsonii)

Copyright: 中国物种信息系统(CSIS)
Copyright: 中国物种信息系统(CSIS)

Where: China, India
How high: Lives up to 5,500 m (18,000 ft) asl
Ref: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15967/0

Tibetan gazelle (Procapra picticaudata)

Copyright David Blank
Copyright: David Blank

Where: China, India
How high: Lives up to 5,750 m (18,900 ft) asl
Ref: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/18231/0

Yak (Bos mutus)

yak_s
Where: China, India
How high: Lives up to 6,100 m (20,000 ft) asl
Ref: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/2892/0

Alpine Chough (Pyrrhocorax graculus)

alpine_chough_s
Where: Europe, Asia, North Africa
How high: Lives up to 6,500 m (21,300 ft) asl but has been spotted 8,200 m (26,900 ft) asl
Ref: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22705921/0

 

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