Reza, AHM Ali

English

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106 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2  •  JUNE 2007 REZAThe dangerously venomous Spectacled Cobra (Naja naja) is the main attraction for snake charmers in Bangladesh. IGUANA  •  VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2  •  JUNE 2007 107TRAVELOGUEIbegin my story in Dhaka, the swirling and chaotic mega-citycapital. The metropolitan area houses 11 million, makingDhaka the largest city in Bangladesh, and one of the most pop-ulous cities in the world. One does not enjoy a casual strollthrough Dhaka. A trip to the city’s center means bushwhackingthrough throngs of garishly decorated rickshaws, buses heldtogether by Bondo putty, and taxis that belch and wheezearound the clock. Dhaka also is not a pleasant-smelling city; ahint of sewage and humanity always hangs in the hot and stickyair. City people are generally very friendly, but many speak onlyBangla. Therefore, having a local guide is advisable if not famil-iar with the language, culture, and customs. However, just milesaway from frenzied, industrialized Dhaka, the landscape changesdramatically and reveals a verdant flatland covered by hand-tended rice fields and palm trees waving lazily in the heat. Bangladesh is situated between the Indo-Himalayan andIndo-Chinese subregions of the Orient. With 147 million peo-ple occupying roughly the same area as Iowa, Bangladesh isamong the most densely populated nations on earth, but thismostly agricultural country rarely makes the news in the West.Within its nearly 144,000 km2, the country contains a numberof diverse ecosystems supporting roughly 113 species of mam-mals, 628 birds, 126 reptiles, 22 amphibians, 708 species offreshwater and marine fish, about 400 species of mollusks, and140 bees and wasps, many of them on the nation’s list of threat-ened animals. Few systematic studies have been conducted onthe biodiversity of the country (formerly East Pakistan) sinceBritish scientists published their last book in 1943.The current species list of Bangladesh, produced by IUCNBangladesh in 2000, was prepared broadly based on collectionsmade by British researchers a century ago. The country has nei-ther a natural history museum nor a long-term biodiversity con-T R A V E L O G U EDestination Bangladesh: From theHimalayas to the Bay of BengalAHM Ali Reza1Department of Natural Resources Management, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409, USAPhotographs by the author.Bangladesh is situated between the Indo-Himalayan and Indo-Chinesesubregions of the Orient.1 Permanent Address: Department of Zoology, Jahangirnagar University,Savar, Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh. E-mail: wild_reza@yahoo.comA trip to Dhaka’s Newmarket area in the center of the nation’s largestcity means bushwhacking through throngs of garishly decorated rick-shaws, buses held together by Bondo putty, and taxis that belch andwheeze around the clock.108 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2  •  JUNE 2007servation strategic plan. Thus, this mainly Muslim, impover-ished, overpopulated, and poorly explored country is now draw-ing attention from researchers and conservationists around theglobe. As a native, I wanted to initiate a research and conserva-tion program on the herpetofauna of Bangladesh, the leastknown and most neglected group of animals in the country. Myresearch goals included the production of an updated species list,a set of GIS-based distribution maps, and estimates of speciescomposition and richness in various habitat types.Based on various geographic, biological, and logistical fac-tors, I selected seven permanent sampling sites (PSSs) in five dif-ferent forest types: evergreen, semi-evergreen, deciduous, man-grove, and swamp forest, and three study sites in urban andsuburban areas. I planned to spend at least one week in each ofmy PSSs, which required a lot of paperwork. Worth mention-ing here is that bureaucracy in a developing country is some-times very frustrating, and is the main obstacle to conductingresearch. Nonetheless, the summer of 2006 found me exploringhot and humid tropical forests with some graduate studentsfrom the Department of Zoology, Jahangirnagar University andother assistants. Jahangirnagar, one of 28 public universities inBangladesh, is in the district of the capital city, Dhaka.We headed northeast into the Lawachara National Park, a1,250-hectare, highly diverse evergreen forest. The park is thehome to several primate species, including the only ape of thecountry, the Hoolock Gibbon (Hylobates hoolock). A bus ride ofabout six hours got me to the nearby township of Srimangal.This was not a peaceful journey, Bangladeshi drivers are notknown for staying in their lanes. From there, we made our wayto the national park headquarters in a “rickshaw,” a locally-madethree-wheeled vehicle pulled by a human, only to be informedthat my team would not be allowed to use the Hilltop ForestRest House, the only place to stay overnight in the park. Thismeant we had to walk in each night, a journey of about 10miles. On the way out from the forest around midnight, wefound Leptobrachium smithii, a dark frog that had not beenrecorded from the park. Two lizards that had not previously beenreported from the country were also recorded: Scincella reevesii,a common ground-dwelling skink, and Ptyctolaemus gularis, arelatively uncommon Calotes-like agamid lizard that we foundabout 2 m high on a tree-trunk.Undulating red soil and Sal (Shorea robusta) forest are themain ecological features of Madhupur National Park, my nextPSS. Sal forests are relatively dry and have been dramaticallyreduced during the last few decades, but a few older standsremain and provide a home for serpents. Nocturnal and deadlyvenomous, the Banded Krait (Bungarus fasciatus) is considered“endangered” in Bangladesh. Normally, these snakes are veryREZABrightly colored and noisy Tokay Geckos (Gekko gecko) are commonin most old buildings.Lawachara National Park is a 1,250-hectare, highly diverse evergreenforest.IGUANA  •  VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2  •  JUNE 2007 109TRAVELOGUEsecretive and very difficult to locate, but I found several freshroadkills on the road that meanders through the 8,438-hectaredeciduous forest in north-central Bangladesh. We recorded abrightly colored microhylid, Kalophrynus orangensis, which hasrecently been proposed to be synonymous with K. interlineatus,for the first time in Bangladesh. Kaloula taprobanica, anotherdark, painted microhylid also was collected from a head-highThe Green Fan-throated Lizard (Ptyctolaemus gularis) was recorded for the first time in Bangladesh.We found a Sri Lankan Painted Frog (Kaloula taprobanica) in a head-high tree-hole.Undulating red soil and Sal forest are the main ecological features ofthe deciduous forest.Reeves’s Ground Skink (Scincella reevesii), another first record forBangladesh.110 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2  •  JUNE 2007 REZAtree-hole. This is the first voucher specimen of this species fromthe country. Many Asian ranids have been subjected to a longtaxonomic debate. We recorded an abundance of the noisy Ranaleptoglossa (the recently revised name of which is now Sylviranaleptoglossa) from the park, and this also was a first record of thespecies from the region. We noticed the Berdmore’s Narrow-Mouthed Frog (Microhyla berdmorei) in great abundance duringlate-June.My next destination was Comilla Tipperah Hills, adegraded Sal forest habitat in east-central Bangladesh that expe-riences flash floods during the rainy season. Most of the hillyareas are already clear-cut, and considerable developmentoccurred during the last couple of decades. We did not find anyold trees or a good patch of forest, and decided to conduct sur-veys in the agricultural fields nearby, from which we recordedmostly common species. We did find two new skink species ofthe genus Sphenomorphus (S. maculatus and S. indicus) that hadnot been recorded from Bangladesh. Among several other skinkspecies, Lygosoma bowringii was a new record for the country,considerably extending its range from the nearest know popu-lations in Myanmar. We also observed breeding ranids,Sylvirana leptoglossa, which also represented a new record of thespecies outside Madhupur National Park in north-centralBangladesh.Three mountainous districts occur in southeasternBangladesh: Khagrachari, Bandarban, and Rangamati. These arecovered in forests that extend from Myanmar and northeasternIndia, and are highly diverse, mostly intact, and poorly explored.Getting there required an eight-hour bus journey from Dhakato Chittagong, then a three-hour bus ride to Bandarban, andfinally a “chander gari,” a locally produced four-wheel-drivejeep-like vehicle. My western friend had to get special permis-sion, as foreigners are not normally allowed to visit these politi-cally restless districts. While looking for amphibians and reptilesin the area, local people were constantly providing us informa-tion on sightings of frogs, snakes, and lizards. In response to suchinformation, we were able to capture a Cat Snake (BoigaWe recorded the Sticky Frog (Kalophrynus interlineatus) for the firsttime in Bangladesh from Madhupur National Park.Like many other Asian ranids, Sylvirana leptoglossa has been subjectedto prolonged taxonomic debates.Uncommon Berdmore’s Narrow-Mouthed Frog (Microhyla berdmorei)is found frequently in Madhupur National Park.IGUANA  •  VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2  •  JUNE 2007 111ochracea) and a very fast-moving Trinket Snake (Coelognathusradiatus), inside our “well-protected” hillside resort campus. Wealso collected several species of skinks, the most important ofwhich were Lygosoma lineolatum, which had not been describedin earlier records, Sphenomorphus maculatus, which we hadfound already in the Camilla Tiperah Hills, and Eutropis macu-laria, which was quite common in the area. We spent more thanan hour capturing a Calotes versicolor sleeping high in a tree atnight inside the resort. Mountain streams are quite common inthese three hill districts, and we recorded a megophryid frog,Xenophrys parva, by one such stream.Haor is an internationally important seasonal wetland thatincludes numerous rivers, streams, irrigation canals, and largeareas of seasonally flooded cultivated plains. Situated in north-eastern Bangladesh, the Haor Basin is one of the most remoteareas of the country. The Tanguar Haor is a 97.3 km2UNESCO “World Heritage Site,” and an important winteringand breeding ground for migratory birds. Water depths in theHaor vary from 5–10 m during the wet season and 1–4 m insome shallower wetland areas. We hired a boat especiallydesigned to cruise in shallow water, but could not conduct athorough survey this year because of logistical problems. We areplanning to do so in the coming years. We did, however, recordseveral species of common frogs and aquatic snakes (e.g.,Enhydris enhydris, Xenochrophis piscator, etc.). We also found afew softshell turtles (Aspideretes gangeticus and A. hurum) thathad been captured by local turtle hunters who we encounteredon the way to local fish markets. We collected tissue samples forDNA analyses.TRAVELOGUEWe recorded Bowring’s Supple Skink (Lygosoma bowringii) for the first time in Bangladesh.Spotted Litter Skinks (Sphenomorphus maculatus) are common, butwere recorded for the first time from Comilla Tipperah Hills.The Khagrachari, Bandarban, and Rangamati hill districts are coveredin evergreen forests.112 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2  •  JUNE 2007 REZAThe mildly venomous nocturnal Tawny Cat Snake (Boiga ochracea) was only found in the Bandarban Hills.This small Bronze Grass Skink (Eutropis macularia) is widely distributed in plains and hilly areas throughout the country.Common Smooth Water Snakes (Enhydris enhydris) are common inmost wetlands in Bangladesh.Local people often were a good source of information for findingamphibians and reptiles in unfamiliar areas.IGUANA  •  VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2  •  JUNE 2007 113TRAVELOGUEIndian Softshell Turtles (Aspideretes gangeticus) are still common in large rivers like the Brahmaputra and its tributaries.Indian Roofed Turtles (Pangshura tectum) are popular in pet markets in Dhaka.My final destination was the Sundarbans, the largest chunkof productive mangrove forest in the world, and another WorldHeritage Site that extends through both India and Bangladesh.At the mouth of the mighty Ganges, this wide area of impene-trable mangroves supports a varied and fascinating array of nat-ural and anthropological treasures. The Bangladeshi Sundarbanscovers an area of about 5,770 km2, of which 4,016 km2 is landand the rest is composed of rivers, canals, and creeks. Only acouple of centuries ago, the Sundarbans was twice its currentsize, but much of it has been altered. It is a crucial conservationarea hosting Bengal Tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) and many otherspecies, including the world’s largest venomous snake, the KingCobra (Ophiophagus hannah), and the world’s largest living rep-tile, the Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus). This mangrovearea also is one of the world’s most effective cyclone barriers, andalso serves as a food factory capable of feeding our children inperpetuity. Transport in the Sundarbans is difficult and danger-ous, especially during the cyclone months. We rented a boat andlaunched from Khulna, the last human habitation in the north-ern part of the Sundarbans, and spent most of the time onboard.Our little “Titanic” carried several thousand gallons of freshwa-ter and enough food for the whole team to eat, drink, and takeshowers for an entire week.I end my story on Katka Beach, situated south of theSundarbans mangrove forest, on a crisp and gorgeous day, withno one else to enjoy the wide swath of powdery white sandbeach that stretched from horizon to horizon. The Earth’s bio-diversity is being lost at a frightening rate, and we must act nowto conserve our life support system. We humans, who have beengiven the power and wisdom to achieve so much, should recog-nize that protecting ecosystems and wildlife will ultimatelyensure our own survival. Bangladesh is an impoverished, over-populated, beleaguered, and mostly forgotten country, but thoseof us from southern Asia have a headstart on the rest of theworld because of our positive attitude towards nature. Werespect other life forms and are grateful for the gifts naturebestows upon us.AcknowledgementsA very special thanks to my academic advisor Dr. Gad Perry,who encouraged me to write this article and reshaped the veryfirst draft, and to Dr. Aaron M. Bauer, who critically reviewedthe manuscript. Financial support for my project was providedby the Rufford Small Grants for Nature Conservation, theConservation Research Small Grants of Cleveland ZoologicalSociety and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Turtle Survival Alliance(TSA), and Texas Tech University. Finally, I thank my field crew,Stephen Mahoney from Ireland, Dr. Peter Praschag fromAustria, Md. Abdul Aziz, Md. Kamrul Hasan, and KamalHossain from Jahangirnagar University, for their help and com-panionship in the field.114 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 14, NUMBER 2  •  JUNE 2007 REZAA good population of King Cobras (Ophiophagus hannah) remainsonly in the Sundarbans mangrove forest.The dangerously venomous Spectacled Cobra (Naja naja) is the mainattraction for snake charmers in Bangladesh. 

Destination Bangladesh: From the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal

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Destination Bangladesh: From the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal

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