**4. The status of wildlife diversity in Bangladesh**

Bangladesh is the home of 1952 species of invertebrates, 653 fish species (251 freshwater; 402 marine) [2, 10, 16], 50 species of amphibians, 147 species of reptiles, 566 species of birds including residents and migrants, and 127 species of mammals [16]. Many of these species are reported from Bangladesh in the last couple of decades; especially the number of amphibians and reptiles has grown up very fast, and it is expected to go even higher in near future [26, 27]. A total of 11 species of mammals, 19 species of birds, and 1 species of reptile has gone extinct from Bangladesh over the last century [16]. Many species such as hoolock gibbon, long-tailed macaque, Malayan sun bear, Asian elephant, and gharial are at the brink of extinction and demand attention for conservation management [16]. Distribution of some distinct wildlife species has been mentioned with the major forest types in Bangladesh (**Figure 3**).

#### **4.1 Amphibians**

Among the 50 recorded species of amphibians, 46 species are found in forested areas of which 36 species are exclusively restricted to different types of forests [16]. The number of recorded amphibians from Bangladesh is even higher in other reports, and the reported species is up to 57 [27]. About 33% amphibian species are threatened in different categories (**Figure 4**). According to IUCN's Red List, Fuller's caecilian (*Chikila fulleri*) and Khare's stream frog (*Pterorana khare*) are critically endangered and restricted to the particular forests in Bangladesh. Bush frogs like Doria's pygmy frog (*Chiromantis doriae*), Anderson's bush frog (*Philautus andersoni*), and pied warty frog (*Theloderma asperum*) are endangered species and only found in mixed-evergreen forests of the country. Cascade frog (*Amolops marmoratus*) is a vulnerable species and restricted to some particular hill streams of Bangladesh.

**Figure 3.** *Major forest types of Bangladesh with distinct wildlife species (Source: [9]).*
