A Royal Bengal Tiger was recently spotted through camera traps in Gamthangpu above Lachen in North Sikkim.
The image of the big cat was recorded by camera traps at an altitude of 3600m above sea level.
The camera traps, which detected the Royal Bengal Tiger, were set up by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), as a part of its special high altitude tiger project under National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA).
Moreover, the WWF has laid out camera traps in different parts of Sikkim to capture sightings of tigers and other kinds of wild animals in the state.
The camera traps had also captured images of snow leopards in parts of Sikkim.
Reports quoted a forest department official as saying that there have many been rumours of tigers being sighted in Sikkim but there was not any solid proof of it.
The official also added that there were reports of a number of cattle being killed and carried away from most parts of the state but no one could find out its killers.
He also said with the camera traps while helping in discovering the Royal Bengal Tiger also opened up the possibility that Sikkim may have a thriving population of these rare big cats.
The Royal Bengal Tiger, listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red list since 2008, had almost become extinct over the years due to poaching on a massive scale.
A Royal Bengal Tiger was captured on camera at the Pangolakha Wildlife Sanctuary by the Sikkim Forest Department in January this year.
The big cat was caught on camera near Goru Jurey at an altitude of 9,583ft at 6:23 pm and again at 7 pm on December 6 last year.