The Sundarban is the largest contiguous mangrove forest in the world covering over 10000 square kilometers of wilderness. This forest is considered as the richest mangrove forest in the world in terms of species diversity and is not only home to critically endanger Royal Bengal tiger but also other threatened wild species.
In 1999 the Sundarban came under UNESCO world heritage site. Recently a study from wildlife conservation society has identified three areas in the Sundarban mangrove forest as dolphin hotspots and the areas have been declared as wildlife sanctuaries for the conservations of threatened freshwater dolphin’s in 2012.
The vegetation of Sundarban is largely comprised of mangrove species some of the species mostly seen in the forest are sundry (Heritiera fomes) Keora (Sonneratia Apetala) Gewa (Excoecaria Agallocha) Golpata (Nypa Fruticans) Baen (Avicennia spp) etc. Over 120 species of fishes and 270 species of birds have been recorded in the Sundarbans. This includes the rare masked Finfoot (Heliopais Personata) and the prized mangrove Pitta (Pitta Megarhyncha). About 32 species of mammals have been recorded in the first which includes a healthy population of threatened Ganges river dolphin (Platanista Gangetica) and Irrawaddy dolphin.