page_title: Central Karakoram National Park
section_title: Flora and fauna
hierarchical_section_title: Central Karakoram National Park / Flora and fauna
caption_attribution_description: English: Nameless Tower, Trango Group in the Karakorams, north of the Baltoro glacier. Deutsch: Der Nameless Tower in der Trango-Gruppe im Karakorum, nördlich des Baltorogletschers.
context_page_description: Central Karakoram National Park is a national park located in Skardu district of Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan. It encompasses some of the world’s highest peaks and largest glaciers. Internationally renowned for mountaineering, rock climbing and trekking opportunities, it covers an area of about 10,000 sq. km and contains the greatest concentration of high mountains on earth. It has four peaks over 8,000 m including K2, Gasherbrum-I, Gasherbrum-II and Broad Peak, and sixty peaks higher than 7,000 m. The park was placed on the World Heritage Site Tentative List in 2016.
context_section_description: Some valleys are dominated by communities of West Himalayan spruce, Himalayan white pine and Pashtun juniper, including some pure stands of P. smithiana. Smaller shrubs and plants associated with these communities include sea wormwood, Astragalus gilgitensis, Fragaria nubicola, Geranium nepalensis, Kashmir balsam, Thymus linearis, white clover, Rubus irritans, Taraxacum karakorium and Taraxacum affinis. On some east and south-facing slopes, common sea buckthorn is the dominant shrub, often associated with Berberis lyceum, and on some east-facing slopes at higher altitudes there are communities dominated by Rosa webbiana and Ribes orientale. Other herbaceous plants growing on the sparse grassland, especially in gullies and ravines, are Salix denticulata, Mertensia tibetica, Potentilla desertorum, Juniperus polycarpus, alpine bistort, Berberis pachyacantha and Spiraea lycioides.
  Larger mammals found in this region include the Marco Polo sheep (Ovis ammon polii), the markhor (Capra falconeri), the ibex (Capra ibex) and the urial (Ovis orientalis vignei). The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) preys on these, and also on the pikas, hares and gamebirds found here. Other predators include the mountain weasel (Mustela altaica), the beech marten (Martes foina), the brown bear (Ursos arctos), the Asian black bear (Selenarctos thibetanus), the Turkestan lynx (Lynx lynx isabellinus), the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) and the Tibetan wolf (Canis lupus filchneri). The number of bird species present is low. The robin accentor (Prunella rubeuloides) and black-throated thrush (Turdus ruficollis) overwinter here, and vultures, birds of prey, rosefinches (Carpodacus spp.), Himalayan monals (Lophophorus impejanus) and Güldenstädt's redstarts (Phoenicurus erythrogaster) remain throughout the year, though they may move to somewhat lower elevations in winter. There are three species of lizard in the park but no amphibians.
caption: The Trango Towers offer some of the largest cliffs and most challenging rock climbing in the world.
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