Andaman Islands, India Photograph by Arjun Rajagopalan   Southern Asia: Between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   2,200 square miles (5,700 square kilometers) -- about the size of Delaware Vulnerable

· Caught in the Middle
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Caught in the Middle

Located between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea, between India to the west and Myanmar to the east, the Andaman Islands are affiliated with both countries in important ways. Although politically part of India, the archipelago is biogeographically more similar to Myanmar and other areas of Indochina. Its rain forests are relatively intact, although the human population is growing fast, posing a serious threat to this isolated ecoregion.

Special Features

If you set sail from the west coast of Myanmar to the Andaman Islands, you would find this ecoregion’s rain forests to be similar to the ones you left behind, if only slightly less rich in diversity. The hill forests in this wet climate are dominated by tall timber trees like gurjun, with the southern islands more favorable to a different type of dipterocarp. Monsoon areas are characterized by shade trees called padauk and the Terminalia genus of trees.

	All shrews have short legs, five clawed toes, a long tail, short fur, and an elongated snout. Although little is known about it, the Andaman shrew has white teeth while other shrews have reddish teeth.

Wild Side

These relatively isolated forests are home to eight species of endemic birds, most of which take the name of the archipelago--including the Andaman woodpecker, Andaman drongo, Andaman treepie, Andaman cuckoo-dove, Andaman wood pigeon, Andaman serpent-eagle, and Andaman scops owl. The islands provide the only habitat for a few small, endemic mammals--three shrew species, a bat, and a rat.

Cause for Concern

Between 1960 and 1985, the human population of these islands more than tripled, growing from 50,000 to 180,000. Logging has disturbed much of the ecoregion’s natural vegetation. Still, the interior regions remain relatively intact, with 11 percent of these forests set aside in conservation areas.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.