Bhutan is blessed with rich flora and fauna and Bhutanese people value it a lot. It has been tactically preserved that you can even see endangered and rare species which are at the verge of extinction. The flora and fauna of Bhutan supports in defining the beauty of nature. Therefore, the National Forest Policy of Bhutan recognizes national parks and wildlife sanctuaries as a long-term strategy to protect the flora and fauna as forests in Bhutan occupy a large part of the country; they are the dominant land cover. Today, Bhutan has more than 26% of land under protection.Thus, they are vital for both ecology and economics.
Fauna
red panda
High altitude in Bhutan is home to animals like Snow leopard, blue sheep, red panda, tiger, takin, marmot and musk deer. Temperate zone fauna include Tiger, leopard, goral, gray langur, Himalayan black beer, red panda, sambur, wild pig, and barking deer. The tropical forests in the south have tiger, clouded leopard, elephants, one horned Rhinoceros, water buffalo, golden langur, gaur, swamp deer, hog deer horn bills etc.
Black necked crane, Green-backed tit, Plumbeous water Redstart and Oriental Turtle Dove are some of the famous birds found in Bhutan. The national bird of Bhutan is Raven. Indo Malayan and pale arctic elements are among those that have been recorded. Approximately 73 percent are resident. In Bhutan, there are four national parks, one nature reserve and four wildlife sanctuaries provide habitats to some 170 species of mammals, over 770 bird species and at least 5,600 species of vascular plants. Bhutan is putting its maximum effort to minimize the risk of local extinction amongst populations of plants and animals.
Flora
Rhododendron
Bhutan has a very rich species of flora ranging from altitudes as low as 200m to as high as 4000m. Over 5500 species of vascular plants have been recorded till date including 46 species of Rhododendrons and 369 species of Orchids and over 300 types of medicinal plants. One of Bhutan's ancient names given by the Tibetan neighbors was Menjong yul, meaning "the land of Medicinal Herbs". The Bhutan Himalayas is also important source of valuable medicinal plants used in ayurvedic medicine so much so that a National Institute of Traditional Medicine has been established at Thimphu.
Junipers, magnolias, carnivorous plants, rare orchids, blue poppy (the national flower), edelweiss, gentian, medicinal plants, daphne, giant rhubarb, high-altitude plants, tropical trees, pine and oak are also common sight