The Sundarbans

Its tigers can swim for miles between islands. Some have learned to hunt people, and the forest that hides them is now slowly drowning.

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Indian Geography · IndGeo0037

The Sundarbans: Where Tigers Swim

~10,000 km²

World’s largest mangrove forest

~40% / 60%

Split: India / Bangladesh

~2 m

Average elevation above sea level

🐅 Royal Bengal Tiger

🐬 Ganges & Irrawaddy Dolphins

A drowning forest

Sea-level rise is pushing salt water in and killing off the sundari tree the forest is named for — while dams upstream cut the freshwater it needs to survive.

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Must Know

• The Sundarbans is the world’s largest mangrove forest, spread across the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna delta on the Bay of Bengal.
• It covers about 10,000 square kilometres. Roughly 40% lies in India, and the rest in Bangladesh.
• The forest stretches about 260 kilometres along the coast, from the Hugli river estuary in India to the Meghna estuary in Bangladesh.
• It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a designated Ramsar wetland site.
• The Sundarbans is home to the single largest population of tigers found anywhere in the world.

Good to Know

• The name Sundarbans comes from the sundari tree, the forest’s most common mangrove species, plus “ban,” meaning forest.
• Sundarbans tigers have adapted to an almost amphibious life. They can swim long distances between islands and hunt fish, crabs, and water monitor lizards.
• Besides the Royal Bengal Tiger, the forest shelters Ganges and Irrawaddy dolphins, estuarine crocodiles, and the critically endangered river terrapin.
• An intricate network of tidal waterways cuts through the forest’s small, low-lying islands and mudflats.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. The Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest, sits on the delta formed by which rivers?

The Ganga, Brahmaputra, and Meghna

The Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri

The Indus, Sutlej, and Beas

The Narmada, Tapi, and Mahanadi

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Great to Know

• Every year, honey collectors entering the forest are killed by Sundarbans tigers that have turned to hunting people.
• Sea-level rise is pushing more salt water into the mangroves. Upstream dams are also cutting the freshwater flow the forest needs.
• Rising salinity is killing off high-value trees like the sundari, the very species that gave the Sundarbans its name.
• The forest sits only about 2 metres above sea level on average, making it especially vulnerable as sea levels keep rising this century.