Nestled in the Himalayan foothills of Bhutan are mountain passes, river gorges, deep valleys and breathtaking landscapes. ©Martyn Smith, flickr

It started with some anecdotal stories from villagers. Although tigers were known to live in the Himalayan foothills of Bhutan, no one believed that they resided any higher up the mountain—until some rumors from locals started surfacing.

So tiger expert Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, president of Panthera, a conservation organization dedicated to safeguarding big cat species, and his team set up motion cameras at altitudes from 9,800 to 13,450 feet, which is at the tree line. What showed up on film was astounding—and the world’s first evidence that tigers are capable of living that high.

Cameras caught images of the highest-living tigers in the world. ©From the video “BBC’s Land of the Lost Tigers,” BBC News

And as remarkable as that is, there was another surprise: it was discovered that the tigers were sharing a range with leopards and snow leopards, a natural phenomenon that no one thought possible.

See the proof, in the video below.

Here’s to finding your true places and natural habitats,

Candy