Beauties of Bangladesh: Sundarban

About Sundarban

The Sundarban is the largest mangrove forest having rich biodiversity and resources. It occupies south-west corner of Bangladesh between longitudes 89º00´´E--89º55´´E and latitudes 21º30´N--22º30´N. Bangladesh received about 2/3 of the forest; the rest is on the Indian side. It is now estimated to be about 4,110 sq km, of which about 1,700 sq km is occupied by water bodies. Prain (1903) recorded 334 species under 245 genera. Of these 17 are pteridophytes, 87 monocotyledons and the rest are dicotyledons. The plant species include 35 legumes, 29 grasses, 19 sedges, and 18 euphorbias. Of the 50 true mangrove plant species recorded, the Sundarbans alone contain 35.

Among the floral species Sundari (Heritiera fomes), Gewa (Excoecaria agallocha), Goran (Ceriops decandra), Keora (Sonneratia apetala), Passur (Xylocarpus mekongenesis), Baen (Avicennia officinalis), Golpata (Nypa fruticans) are the important species in the Sundarban.

The Sundarbans hosts a large variety of animals. It is the last stronghold of the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris). Within the forest habitats there are about 50 species of mammals, about 320 species of inland and migratory birds, about 50 species of reptiles, 8 species of amphibians, and about 400 species of fish.