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The diversity in the plant world is complemented
by a similar variety in the animal kingdom. Amongst the more than
550 species of avifauna in the KNP includes the flamboyant high
altitude pheasants are Monal Pheasant, Satyr Tragopan, and Blood
Pheasant. Others include Snow Cock, Snow Partridge, Hill Partridge,
Lammergier vultures, Forest-eagle Owl, Tibetan Horned Eagle Owl
and Snow Pigeon.
 The
high altitude lakes form stop-over sites for the migratory waterfowl
like the Bar-headed Goose, Eastern Goosander, Pintail and Grebes,
and are also the breeding grounds of the residential waterfowls
like the Brahminy Duck, Coot, Shoveller and Pochards etc.
 Sikkim
also has more than 600 species of Butterflies and moths, many of
them rare and endangered, which adorn the forest with colour and
life.
 Among
the more commonly found animals in the alpine zone are yaks. They
are domesticated and reared in North Sikkim mainly for their economic
productiveness. Yak milk is used to make butter `churpi', the wool
comes in handy as raw material for carpets and blankets. The musk
deer, found in the upper temperate regions, is today a species in
the endangered list. A common denizen of Sikkim is the muntjac,
or the Barking Deer.
 The
more exotic mammals includes the Red Panda which lives mostly on
treetops. It is found at altitudes ranging from 6,000 to 12,000
feet. The snow leopard is an almost mythical animal. It has rarely
been sighted and to date, only two field zoologists have succeeded
in photographing this elusive animal in its habitat which can vary
from 5,000 feet to as high as 18,000 feet.  Others
include the Musk Deer, Tibetan Fox, Snow Leopard, Clouded Leopard,
Lesser cats, Nayan or Great Tibetan Sheep, Leopard cats, marmots,
and flying squirrels, just to name a few. The higher regions have
Blue Sheep known commonly as the Bharal, the, Shapi which is similar
to the Himalayan Tahr, the Tibetan Wild Ass, locally known as the
Kyang and the Himalayan Black Bear.
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