By Muntasir Akash, 1st December 2024
In 2018, I carried out my first camera-trapping survey in a small 2.3 km² protected area called the Satchari National Park. The Park belongs to a network of patchy hill forests in eastern Bangladesh that are not often surveyed and are traditionally believed to be unworthy of investments into carnivore conservation. At first, I was discouraged by experts who told me ‘you won’t even find deer in these reserves; it would be a waste of time’, leaving me, a hopeful early-career conservationist, with a feeling of imposter syndrome. Thankfully, despite these initial warnings, I persisted and eventually expanded my surveys, and my findings were astonishing! The automated cameras captured images of the Asiatic golden cat Catopuma temminckii, small-clawed otter Aonyx cinereus, serow Capricornis sumatrensis and hog badger Arctonyx collaris, all of which are threatened and understudied in Bangladesh—and some had never even been recorded in the country before.
My work in these ecologically uncharted forests led to a Future Conservationist Award from the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) in 2020. This grant was a true game-changer, not only because of the funding it provided, but also because it gave me the confidence and motivation to continue my camera-trap research, and to begin studying the elusive bears of Bangladesh.
Left: Setting up camera traps in Bangladesh. Right: Asiatic black bear claw marks found on a tree. Photos: Muntasir Akash.
In Bangla, the term ‘Bagh-Bhalook’ (tiger and bear) represents a deep-rooted connection between these two mammals, yet conservation efforts in Bangladesh are overwhelmingly focused on tigers. There have been around 50 studies on tiger populations in the Sundarbans, and we know that there are some 115 Bengal tigers Panthera tigris tigris in the wild in Bangladesh. However, research on mammals in the mixed evergreen forests in the eastern regions of Bangladesh is limited, and little is known about bears in this densely populated South Asian country. Bears are elusive and rarely surveyed here, leaving questions over where they reside, how many there are, and even if there are any wild bears remaining at all in Bangladesh. I was determined to help answer some of these questions and bring the bears of Bangladesh to the forefront of conservation efforts.
Bangladesh is home to two globally threatened bear species: the Asiatic black bear Ursus thibetanus and the sun bear Helarctos malayanus, both categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The black bear is a habitat generalist ranging between Central and South Asia and the Far East. On the other hand, the sun bear—the smallest and most arboreal of all bears—is a habitat specialist. It avoids logged forests and proximity to people, and is mostly confined to north-east India and Southeast Asia, favouring lower altitudes and wet forests. In Bangladesh, both species are categorized as Critically Endangered. In the past the country was also home to the termite-eating sloth bear Melursus ursinus, but with no documented records since the mid-1990s the species was sadly declared extinct in the country by Islam et al. in 2013. This decade-old paper, published in Ursus, is the only comprehensive study on bears in the country, and although it states that eastern mixed evergreen forests are the only place bears can be found, there is much more to discover in the 6,000 km² western cusp of the Indo-Burma Biodiversity Hotspot.
An Asiatic black bear Ursus thibetanus finally photographed earlier this year in the Satchari National Park, where I started my camera-trapping journey. Photo: Haris Debbarma.
Our newly published study offers a comprehensive overview of bears in Bangladesh, compiling and verifying records previously scattered across grey literature and media reports. By integrating findings from our CLP-funded camera-trap survey, we present 43 verifiable bear records, alongside 23 human–bear conflict incidents documented between 2018 and 2023. Our results confirm the continued presence of both bear species, underscoring the critical importance of the rapidly vanishing mixed evergreen forests where they reside. Notably, our study provides the first evidence of Asiatic black bears in forests extending into Tripura, India, and also confirms the presence of sun bears in regions connected to Mizoram, India. Despite the alarmingly low number of sun bear records (we found only 11 potential sun bear sites in the literature, two recent camera trap records and several hunting anecdotes from deep within the Hill Tracts, but did not capture any sun bears with our own camera traps), these findings indicate that both species persist at the southern edge of their range.
An Asiatic black bear captured during our camera-trap surveys. Photo: Muntasir Akash.
Although our camera-trap results and literature review confirm the presence of bears in Bangladesh, the forest habitats of these animals are highly fragmented. Whilst some of the hill forests in the country are protected, there have been no new areas declared as protected since the 2000s. Existing protected areas are disjointed, small and ecologically unsuitable for these animals. There is little connectivity on a landscape scale, resulting in isolated forest patches that are too small to support wide-ranging species, increasing the risk of local and regional extirpations. Furthermore, although these habitats stretch beyond borders, there are currently no trans-border efforts to coordinate conservation actions in the neighbouring countries.
Our surveys revealed another sobering truth: we noticed a prevalence of armed hunters—a concerning finding that is corroborated by media reports highlighting the illegal wildlife trade in the region. In recent years, at least seven black bear cubs have been confiscated from the trade, including a notable incident in West Bengal, India, where customs officials rescued two cubs from poachers.
An armed hunter photographed by our camera traps. Photo: Muntasir Akash.
With rapidly vanishing forests and the spread of agroforestry, human–wildlife conflict poses another challenge for bears in Bangladesh. Both the black bear and the sun bear are protected under the Bangladesh Wildlife (Conservation and Protection) Act of 2012, and although compensation schemes for damage inflicted by bears exist, there are no plans in place to mitigate these negative interactions, and the actual number of human casualties from bear attacks in remote areas may be far greater than reported.
Looking forward, we must foster a community of carnivore ecologists in Bangladesh. Involving the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Bear Specialist Group and the Asian Bear Monitoring Expert Team in future conservation efforts is crucial. Engaging young students in bear research and expanding the membership of the IUCN SSC Bear Specialist Group will help to inspire a new generation of bear biologists and conservationists. Recognizing that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, we call for systematic conservation measures for both bear species in eastern Bangladesh.
An Asiatic black bear captured by our camera-traps. Photo: Muntasir Akash.
The article ‘Assessing the conservation status of and challenges facing Asiatic black bears and Malayan sun bears in Bangladesh’ is available open access in Oryx—The International Journal of Conservation.
