Bangladesh

Asia

248

Documented species

Parks and reserves

Dive sites

Explore on the map

Interactive map

Bangladesh is essentially a delta: the largest in the world, formed by the meeting of the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna, with an alluvial plain that floods with every monsoon and is constantly remodelled. In the southwest, the Sundarbans form the most extensive continuous mangrove forest on the planet, shared with India, a maze of tidal channels where a population of Bengal tigers lives, adapted to swimming between islands and drinking brackish water. In the northeast, the haors of Sylhet are basins that turn into immense lakes during the monsoon and empty in the dry season, with flooded woodland of hijal and karach. The Chittagong hills, in the southeast, keep the country's last evergreen forests, with Asian elephants and hoolock gibbons.

The nature of Bangladesh

National animal: The Bengal tiger is the national animal and the oriental magpie-robin, or doel, the national bird

Did you know?

In 2009, marine surveys off the Sundarbans revealed a population of almost six thousand Irrawaddy dolphins in an undersea canyon known as the Swatch of No Ground. Until then this species was known only in groups of a few dozen animals scattered across Southeast Asia, so the find multiplied the estimated world total many times over and turned those waters into its main refuge.

Biodiversity profile

Sur de Asia (delta del Ganges-Brahmaputra)Solo 4% del territorio bajo areas protegidas, una de las coberturas mas bajas de la region

Climate

•Tropical monzonico (Am), calido y humedo con estacion de monzon intensa

Main biomes

•Manglares de Sundarbans (mayor bosque de manglar continuo del mundo, compartido con India)
•Llanuras aluviales del delta del Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna
•Bosque tropical de colinas en el sureste (Chittagong)
•Manglar de los Sundarbans
•Delta fluvial
•Humedal estacional de haor
•Bosque siempreverde de colina
•Cañón submarino
•Llanura de inundación
•Bosque inundable de agua dulce

Marine and coastal ecosystems

•Sundarbans (Patrimonio Mundial)
•Costa del Golfo de Bengala

Flagship wildlife

•Tigre de Bengala (poblacion de los Sundarbans)
•Delfin del Ganges
•Delfin del Irrawaddy
•Elefante asiatico
•Gibón de Hoolock
•Cocodrilo de las marismas
•Ciervo axis
•Cocodrilo gavial
•Tortuga golfina
•Águila pescadora cabeciblanca

Notable endemic species

•Mas del 7% de las especies vegetales del mundo presentes en Bangladesh segun fuentes de conservacion, con numerosas especies endemicas de los ecosistemas de manglar y delta

Notable threatened species

•Delfin del Ganges (En Peligro, poblacion compartida con India y Nepal, estimada en 2.000 individuos)
•Tigre de Bengala de los Sundarbans (En Peligro, amenazado por subida del nivel del mar sobre su habitat de manglar)

Notable protected areas

•Reserva de Tigres de los Sundarbans (Patrimonio Mundial, compartida con India)
•Reserva Forestal de los Sundarbans
•Swatch of No Ground
•Parque Nacional de Lawachara
•Haor de Tanguar
•Santuario de Vida Silvestre de Chunati
•Isla de San Martín

Main conservation threats

•Deforestacion
•Sobrepastoreo
•Erosion del suelo
•Salinizacion y encharcamiento por subida del nivel del mar (amenaza critica para los Sundarbans)
•Caza furtiva

Notable natural phenomena

•Ciclones tropicales frecuentes en el Golfo de Bengala
•Inundaciones estacionales del delta que sostienen la productividad agricola y ecologica de la region

Conservation

The Sundarbans are a World Heritage Site and also act as a natural barrier against the cyclones that strike the delta. Sea level rise and growing salinisation are the greatest long-term threat to the mangrove and to its tigers.

Where and when to watch wildlife

The Sundarbans between November and February, by boat along the channels. Tanguar Haor during the monsoon for waterbirds. Lawachara at dawn for hoolock gibbons.

Sources: SlideShare - Threats and Conservation of Biodiversity Bangladesh Perspectives | blogs.worldbank.org - Revisiting protected areas biodiversity conservation | ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in - Current Status Environment India (referencia al delfin del Ganges compartido)

Rainforest Freshwater Ocean