Sundarbans

The Sundarban forest lies in the vast delta on the Bay of Bengal formed by the super confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers across southern Bangladesh. The seasonally flooded Sundarbans freshwater swamp forests lie inland from the mangrove forests on the coastal fringe. It became inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997. The Sundarbans is estimated to be about 4,110 km, of which about 1,700 km; is occupied by waterbodies in the forms of river, canals and creeks of width varying from a few meters to several kilometres. The region supports several mangroves, including: sparse stands of Gewa (Excoecaria agallocha) and dense stands of Goran (Ceriops tagal), with discontinuous patches of Hantal palm (Phoenix paludosa) on drier ground, river banks and levees. The fauna of the sanctuary is very diverse with some 40 species of mammals, 260 species of birds and 35 species of reptiles. The greatest of these being the Bengal Tiger of which an estimated 350 remain in the Bangladesh Sundarbans. Other large mammals are wild boar, Chital horin (spotted deer), Indian otter and macaque monkey. Five species of marine turtles frequent the coastal zone and two endangered reptiles are present, the estuarine crocodile and the Indian python.