State symbols of Nagaland: bird, animal, flower and tree

Nagaland’s state symbols are the Blyth’s tragopan (state bird), the mithun (state animal), the rhododendron (state flower) and the alder tree (state tree). Each one is a traveller’s clue to the hills: here is what they are and where to see them.

The four symbols

State bird: Blyth’s tragopan. A shy, crimson-and-grey pheasant of the high forests, easiest glimpsed in the cool mornings of the state’s protected pockets. Birders pair Nagaland with the Pakke hornbill country next door for pheasant-and-hornbill trips. (The great hornbill, the festival’s namesake, is a separate bird: why Hornbill is called Hornbill.)

State animal: the mithun. The semi-domesticated gayal bovine, wealth, wedding gift and ceremony animal across the Naga hills. You will meet them grazing around villages in Mon and Longleng; they wander half-wild and are never fenced for long.

State flower: rhododendron. The hills burn red-pink in spring; the slopes above Pfutsero and the Dzükou ridges carry the best shows, and the Japfü country holds famous old rhododendron trees.

State tree: alder (Alnus nepalensis). The quiet genius of Naga farming: alder is coppiced for firewood and fixes nitrogen for the famous terraced jhum fields of Khonoma and the south.

Quick answers

What is the state bird of Nagaland? Blyth’s tragopan, a high-forest pheasant.

What is the state animal of Nagaland? The mithun (gayal), the ceremonial semi-wild bovine.

What is the state flower of Nagaland? The rhododendron, best in spring on the southern highlands.

What is the state tree of Nagaland? Alder, the farmer’s tree of the terraced hills.

Coming for the Hornbill Festival or the highland treks? Message us with your dates.