High Living in the Himalayas
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The highest land-dwelling animals on earth are small, black attid spiders. They live in islands of broken rock on Mount Everest at an altitude of 22,000 feet. This is far above the line of perpetual snow and nearly a mile above the last vegetation. Since there is no other living thing near them, they have to eat one another for sustenance. Presumably their ranks always are being repleted by new arrivals from below.
Highest of all living things are red-legged, black-feathered choughs, birds of the crow family. A lone chough has been seen in the Himalayas at 27,000 feet. There is an intimate association between these birds and mountain sheep. The chough sits on the sheep’s back and searches its hair for insects. The sheep seems to like this attention and stands still while the exploration is in progress.
Another bird-animal association at high mountain altitudes is that between mouse hares, rabbit-like animals about the size of large rats, and finches. The hares live in burrows and usually are seen feeding at the entrances or running from hole to hole. Both hares and birds are seed eaters.
Wild sheep and mountain goats in the Himalayas struggle up to about 17,000 feet. There are small, wingless grasshoppers at 18,000 feet. A few bees, moths and butterflies are found at 21,000 feet.