Home to the Bengal Tigers
SUNDARBANS
The Sundarbans (Bengali: সুন্দরবন Shundorbôn) is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world.[1] "Sundarban" literally means "beautiful jungle" or "beautiful forest" in the Bengali language. The name Sundarbans may also have been derived from the Sundari trees that are found in Sundarbans in large numbers. Other possible explanations can be a derivation from "Samudraban" (Bengali: সমুদ্রবন Shomudrobôn "Sea Forest") or "Chandra-bandhe" (name of a primitive tribe). But the generally accepted view is the one associated with Sundari trees.[1]
The forest lies at the mouth of the Ganges and is spread across areas of Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, forming the seaward fringe of the delta. The forest covers 10,000 sq.km of which about 6,000 are in Bangladesh.[2] It became inscripted as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997, but while the Bangladeshi and Indian portions constitute the same continuous ecotope, these are separately listed in the UNESCO world heritage list as the Sundarbans and Sundarbans National Park, respectively. The Sundarbans is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests. The area is known for the eponymous Royal Bengal Tiger, as well as numerous fauna including species of birds, spotted deer, crocodiles and snakes. It is estimated that there are now 500[citation needed] Bengal tigers and about 30,000 spotted deer in the area. Sundarbans was designated a Ramsar site on May 21, 1992.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunderban
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