Characteristics of Island Aimals

source

Animals living on islands are called island fauna or insular fauna. The closer the island is to the mainland, the more similar the fauna of the island is to that of the mainland. Again, the greater the distance, the less the similarity. However, there are exceptions in some cases. Animals that live on deep-sea islands are often not easily traced back to their origins.

In some cases, no similarity can be found between the fauna of the deep-sea side-by-side islands. Determining the origin of animals involves comparisons between animals from islands and nearby continents or mainlands. Bangladesh belongs to the Indian subregion of the Oriental region. Bangladesh is included in the Gangetic plains of this sub-region. The distribution of vertebrates in the Indian subregion and the endemic fauna of the region are more or less found in Bangladesh.

For example, the species of catfish and carp which are found in the Indian sub-region are also found in Bangladesh. Among the zoogeographically significant reptiles, mammals are found only in India and Bangladesh. Apart from this, there are Royal Bengal tigers and lions in the Sundarbans. Bangladesh has been included in the Indian sub-region of the Oriental region for the distribution of these animals

The characteristics of island animals are:

1. The population size of the species is small;

2. Most animals are endemic;

3. The range of distribution of animals is narrow;

4. Genetic diversity is limited;

5. The number of mammals is very low.

Thank you for reading ❤️