Tales from the forest

World Environment Day, celebrated on June 5, reminds us once again of the urgent need to protect Mother Nature. Here's a peep into the Sundarbans, one of the world's most unique biodiversity hubs.

The Sundarbans, a vast forest in the coastal region of the Bay of Bengal, as viewed from space! The Sundarbans is among the world's largest deltaic regions and encompasses numerous islands along with rivers, creeks, swamps, estuaries, mud flats and tidal flats. The nearest airport from the Sundarban Tiger Reserve is in Kolkata.

For people residing in and around the Sundarbans, life is about the forest and the water. Fishing, crab collection, honey collection and tourism are the main sources of income here.

Mudskippers are amphibious fish and are an integral part of the habitat of the Sundarbans. They live in swamps and estuaries and on mud flats, and are noted for their ability to climb, walk and skip about out of water.

Unique looking, pneumatophores are specialised root structures that grow out from the water surface and facilitate the aeration necessary for root respiration in hydrophytic trees, including many mangrove species. Here, pneumatophores of the Sundarbans' mangrove forest bed.

A common sight in coastal brackish mangroves and river deltas of the Sundarbans, the saltwater crocodile is one of the important species and the apex predator of an estuarine ecosystem. Often, these reptiles are seen on mudflats basking in the sun!

A common saying in the Sudarbans is that even if you do not spot a tiger, the tiger keeps an eye on every visitor in its territory! While that may or may not be true, the royal Bengal tiger is one of the most popular attractions here.

You can easily catch a glimpse of these agile spotted deer in the

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