Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Honey Hunters of the Sundarbans

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Sunderbans is the world's largest mangrove forest and a UNESCO World Heritage site spanning the border of India and Bangladesh. This landscape is home to nearly 10 million people who live alongside some of the Earth's deadliest predators. Driven by poverty, residents of this region are forced to extreme lengths to survive and are forced to take risks that few others would dare contemplate. Learn more about the honey hunters of the Sunderbans and one of the world's most dangerous jobs on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Fear is the virus is trending on TikTok.

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Starting point is 00:01:11 The Sunderbans are the world's largest mangrove forest, spanning southern Bangladesh in eastern India, where the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Magna rivers meet the Bay of Bengal. There are a vast tidal wetland known for dense mangroves, shifting waterways, and some of the world's deadliest wildlife. Life in the Sunderbans is challenging. The people who live in the region face significant economic challenges. Poverty is rampant. Nearly 50% of the people in the area lived below the poverty line established by the Indian government, a line that would be far below what is viewed as poverty in the Western world. More than 20% of the people who live there depend on the forest for their livelihood, and this dependence takes many forms. The forest can provide

Starting point is 00:02:01 fuel wood, Nipal leaves for weaving, foraging for food, and honey gathering. The money they make is often immediately used to repay debts or fix aging homes or boats if they're a fisherman. In addition to their financial woes are the risks posed by the persistent piracy in the region. Pirates often extort money from locals and have a disturbing practice of stealing the resources gathered by those who braved the forests in search of honey or crabs. Mr. Abdis Salam, a sundar-banned gatherer, noted about the pirates in an interview with the BBC, quote, If we don't pay them, they will kill us mercilessly.

Starting point is 00:02:38 This job is full of risk. The people who brave the region have also had to bear the brunt of modern civilizations advance. Much of the ecosystem that makes up the Sunderbonds is under siege, as the region has experienced significant deforestation. Estimates of forest recession in the region have reached 20% over a decade. The retreat of these forested lands has brought the people in the region much closer to the wildlife that lives there. As a result, the people who depend on the forest for their livelihood are now working side by side with some of the deadliest predators in the world. The region has several dangerous predators that interact with those who use the forest.

Starting point is 00:03:18 Animals in the forest ecosystem include venomous snakes, leopards, and the largest crocodiles in the world. The Sunderband Saltwater Crocodile routinely reaches 20 feet or 6 meters in length and is an apex predator. The crocodiles provide formidable resistance to the fishermen who follow the banks of the Delta throughout the forest in search of the coveted crabs of the region. They pose a great risk to the forest visitors, as anyone who seeks its treasures are forced across small creeks, branches of the river, or walk along its banks. Data suggests that human crocodile interactions are highly fatal, with Indian ministries providing data of nearly 10 deaths per year.

Starting point is 00:04:00 However, the most famous resident of the Sunderbans is not the giant crocodiles or the poisonous snakes, but rather the Royal Bengal Tiger. These magnificent creatures routinely top 550 pounds and are renowned for their speed, grace, and ferocity. The tigers of this region are adept at tracking and killing deer and are also highly evolved, well-adapted swimmers. These remarkable animals are agile climbers and pose a serious threat to the people living in and around the Sunderbans. And all of this brings me to the main point of this episode, Honey. The forest is home to some of the world's most prized natural honey. The Sunderband saltwater ecosystem provides a unique form of honey compared to other types. A quick

Starting point is 00:04:47 Google search reveals that honey from this region is sold at prices exceeding $50 a pound or $100 a kilogram. The region's honey hunters, called Mawali, use ancient practices to gather the precious honey. They begin any search with a prayer to the Hindu goddess, Bonbibi. the protector of the forest. The hope is that under her watch, the hunters can ensure a safe journey. According to Hindu tradition, Ban Bibi watches over the honey gatherers as she is engaged in battle to subdue the tiger demon Dachshin Rai. When they're in the forest, the honey hunters use smoke to neutralize bees, as well as their elite climbing skills to get to the hives. Honey from the hies is gathered in bamboo baskets and taken to local merchants.

Starting point is 00:05:31 Unfortunately, the smell of the smoke also has an ancillary effect. It draws in the presence of the Bengal Tigers. Despite their danger, the Mawali are not well compensated. Recent studies indicate that these hunters only earn $70 to $80 per year during the three-month gathering season. And that is not a lot of money considering the dangers that the honey hunters face. The greatest danger is far and away, the Bengal tiger. According to the Nobel Prize-winning economist Amardia Sen, quote, In a good year, only about 50 or so honey gatherers are killed by tigers,

Starting point is 00:06:12 but that number can be very much higher when things do not go so well. The tigers are protected by the government as an endangered species, their status all the more precarious as the Sunderbans forests have eroded with each passing decade. The gatherers who take the risks to collect the honey are not protected. Their sole protection comes from their ritual worship of the goddess, Bon Bibi. Unfortunately, her benevolent nature is not enough to keep everyone safe. A trip to the region is fraught with peril. The tigers of the Sunderbans are not afraid of humans.

Starting point is 00:06:47 They don't turn and run at the sight of people. It's quite the opposite, in fact. Tigers are not usually predatory towards humans. However, in the Sunderbans, the forest has experienced an abnormally high death rate. According to statistics compiled by the Bangladeshi Forestry Department, tigers have killed nearly 1,400 people over the last 63 years, with estimates that 81% of tigers have killed more than one person.

Starting point is 00:07:17 So what causes this abnormally high tiger death rate in the Ganges Delta? The region has experienced several high casualty events, primarily typhoons. These cyclones have caused the disappearance of hundreds of people, most recently Cyclone Amphan in the spring of 2020. This high-casualty event claimed more than 100 lives in the region, some of whom may have died in the forest, leading to the tiger's scavenging of human flesh. The amount of prey the tigers have access to has declined in large part to deforestation in the region. Sadly, the impact on tigers, when there's a surge in tiger attacks, be catastrophic on the population of the endangered animal. While statistics are difficult to gather,

Starting point is 00:08:01 some estimates point to more than 100 tiger deaths per year, and many likely go unreported. When tigers kill humans, terrified Sunderband people often take matters into their own hands and kill the tigers. Tragically, tigers have posed significant threats to rural populations on other occasions in Indian history. The tiger-related deaths in the Sunderbans, are not the worst, but they have the longest history given the nature of human tiger relationships in the forest. The unfortunate record for a Bengal tiger feasting on human flesh occurred between 1907 and 1914 in the Champawatt region of India near the border with Nepal. It was here during the final period of the British imperial control of India that the Tigris of Champawatt, a single

Starting point is 00:08:50 tiger claimed 436 lives. The first kill was a six-year-old girl, killed while she was cutting back grass near the edge of her village that the tiger would come to terrorize. Shockingly, or perhaps not shockingly, given the self-interested nature of British colonialism in India, the British colonial administration didn't even get involved until the tiger had been responsible for more than 200 deaths. For a period of more than seven years, the tiger evaded capture until she was finally felled by a British colonial agent named Jim Corbett, who had followed a trail of blood from the beast's final victim, a 16-year-old girl from the region. Experts in animal behavior have studied the case diligently since the killings began in 1907.

Starting point is 00:09:37 Why would this tiger reverse patterns of behavior and start to kill human beings? And why would the tiger kill in such stunning volume? The best answer points to a physical trauma that was discovered in the tiger's past. As it turned out, the tiger had likely been shot long before the killing started and had sustained significant dental damage that made it impossible to pursue the tiger's natural prey, deer and wild boar. The tiger had several broken teeth, which prevented her from attacking larger prey, forcing them to deviate from their normal pattern of tiger behavior.

Starting point is 00:10:13 Another fundamental reason, which brings us back to the modern day in the Sunderbans, is the encroachment of human populations on animal habitats. As village life transitioned to a more urban landscape, it brought people into traditional tiger habitat. The Paleolithic tradition of hunting and gathering persists in certain groups around the world, even as people in modern times often endure harsh conditions to survive. Nonetheless, the number of hunter-gatherer societies remaining today has significantly declined. The cultures that draw inspiration and dependence from honey are even fewer. Those groups that maintain the tradition draw the tradition draw

Starting point is 00:10:50 economic and cultural strength from their work. In fact, the Hadesha people of modern-day Kanzania live as hunter-gatherers and place great emphasis on honey-gathering. Like the honey hunters of the Sunderbans, the Hotsda people engage in small-scale sale of their honey, often through NGOs or to international markets. But unlike their Sunderbanned counterparts, the Hazda have not faced the same threats from the lion population surrounding their area in Africa. Lions hunt differently from tigers and live in very different social habitats.

Starting point is 00:11:23 Lions, while certainly formidable, are not nearly as stealthy as tigers, which makes an invisible adversary in the mangrove forest. Unlike the people of the Sunderbounds, the Hadesa also have a helping hand in their honey hunting in the form of a bird known as the Honey Guide. The honey guide indirectly, whereas the Hadesa people believe purposely, leads gatherers to their honey. Like the people of the Sunderbans, the Hadsda have a deep relationship with honey and it's factored into their religious and cultural practices. The risks of living in close proximity to declining predatory habitats poses a grave threat to the people of the Sunderbans.

Starting point is 00:12:03 Outside observers of life in the Ganges Delta note that many of these gatherers bear significant scars and physical deformities from encounters with apex predators in the forest. As one Sunderband Gatherer said in an interview with the BBC, quote, If we can get any other work, we will happily do that. If a tiger kills any one of us, we cannot be afraid and stay at home. If we don't come here, we won't be able to feed our parents and children. It's our life. End quote. So the next time you complain about having to go to work,

Starting point is 00:12:36 just remember those who search for honey in the Sunderbans, who have to brave saltwater crocodiles, poison as vipers, and man-eating tigers, just to earn their living. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. Research and writing for this episode were provided by Joel Hermanson. Today's review comes from listener L. Tomp Eleven over on Apple Podcasts in the United States.

Starting point is 00:13:06 They write, newest San Antonio completionist member. I found this show this year and have enjoyed catching up on the five years of episodes you've produced. Keep up your incredible random work so I can continue to annoy my friends and family with my newfound facts. Well, thanks, L. Tomp. Congratulations on your ascension to the Completionist Club. Make sure to check out the San Antonio Chapter headquarters, which is conveniently located on the riverwalk. The password to get in is the Alamo. So to gain entry, just remember the Alamo. Remember if you leave a review of the

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Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Honey Hunters of the Sundarbans

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