The Taron are a small ethnic group in the Himalayan foothills of northern Myanmar whose population is declining to the point where they are in danger of disappearing entirely. They have been referred to as the "Asian pygmies". Like the pygmies of Central Africa and the Negritos of the South Pacific, the Tarons are very small, averaging less than 4 feet and 3 inches (139 cm).

Taron tribes are inhabited at the foothills of Mt. Hhakaborazi, in the Himalaya mountain ranges. Unfortunately today the tribe is almost vanishing. There are no genuine Taron anymore yet there live many Tarons who have married to other tribes and whose children grow taller and show no physical sign of Tarons.

The people in this area practice shifting cultivation of paddy, wheat, beans, maize, millet, mustard and yams, and any extra produce is taken to market, together with medicinal herbs and tubers foraged in the jungle, in the district headquarters town of Putao. Trade in hides, antlers, bones and other parts of animals not listed as endangered flourishes across the Myanmar-China border.

The Tarons have got their name from their original habitat; the headwaters of the Taron River. Leaving their original homeland around 200 years ago, the Tarons moved into Myanmar territory through the Thalalarkha mountain pass. The landscape is dense forests and difficult terrain, with torrential streams and snow-clad mountains that are home to rare wild animals such as the blue sheep and the leaf deer.

A 1997 field trip commissioned by the Kachin State Peace and Development Council revealed that only eight individuals of pure Taron stock remained. It makes the Taron one of the most highly endangered human populations in the world today.