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Research overview

Research overview: man-eating tigers of the Sundarbans mangrove delta

This overview synthesises research on the Bengal tigers of the Sundarbans, the mangrove delta straddling India and Bangladesh, notorious for a comparatively high rate of fatal attacks on people. It reviews hypotheses for elevated man-eating: high salinity and harsh habitat, scarcity of fresh water, tidal disorientation, frequent human incursion by honey collectors, fishers, and woodcutters into tiger habitat, and possible scavenging of corpses carried by tides. The literature examines victim demographics, spatial and seasonal attack patterns, and the deep cultural and economic entanglement of forest-dependent communities with tigers. The survey frames the Sundarbans as a unique, high-stakes human-tiger conflict system shaped by an extreme environment.

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