Karnafuli Reservoi (Kaptai Lake), Bangladesh Photograph by Galen R. Frysinger   Southern Asia: Bangladesh into India Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests   98,100 square miles (254,100 square kilometers) -- about the size of Wyoming and Rhode Island combined Critical/Endangered

· A Landscape Lost
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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A Landscape Lost

If you stood at the confluence of the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers, you would catch glimpses of a disappearing forest. This tropical ecoregion once teemed with tigers, greater one-horned rhinoceroses, Asian elephants, gaurs, and swamp deer, to name just a few species. Today, explosive population growth has led to widespread clearing and cultivation of the sediment-rich plains, taking a heavy toll on the biodiversity of the ecoregion.

Special Features

This ecoregion is no stranger to water. From June to September, monsoons deluge the ecoregion with more than 138 inches (350 centimeters) of rainfall. Cyclones sweep in from the Bay of Bengal and cause widespread flooding. Impenetrable canebrakes, which are thickets of cane, grow in permanently wet or moist areas with organically rich soil. Because annual fires are common, fire-hardy species grow here as well.

	Adult sloth bears lack upper incisor teeth, which creates a gap in their mouths. The bears insert their long lower lip through this gap to form a feeding tube through which they can suck up termites and ants. The loud sucking sounds can be heard more than 330 feet (100 meters) away.

Wild Side

When undisturbed, tigers generally prefer to hunt during the daytime, but they will become nocturnal when near disturbed habitats or human settlements. While this might explain why tigers are rarely seen in this populated ecoregion, the fact is their numbers are decreasing. The tiger is just one of several endangered species, including Asian elephants, gaurs, and sloth bears, that are struggling to survive here. Threatened bird species include the Bengal florican, the lesser florican, the Pallas’ fish-eagle, and the swamp francolin. Two birds, the Indian gray hornbill and the Oriental pied-hornbill, are indicators of a healthy forest, but they too are rare because of widespread habitat destruction.

Cause for Concern

This ecoregion is on the verge of extinction. Only three percent of the ecoregion is protected from development. Urbanization, industrialization, and agriculture pose serious threats to the remaining forest fragments. Not only do existing protected areas need to be effectively managed, critical habitat must be restored.

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