Tigers ‘killing, eating’ elephants in Corbett

New Delhi, June 16

The findings, part of the study conducted by the park authority, signal a worrying trend in wildlife as tigers usually don’t eat elephants, wildlife experts say.

A total of nine tigers, 21 elephants and six leopards were found dead from 2014 to May 31, 2019, due to infighting and clashes over issues related of mating, according to the study.

“Out of the total 36 cases for the three species, 21 were reported in case of wild elephants alone. However, a very surprising aspect was that around 60 per cent of wild elephant death cases (13) were due to attack by tigers mostly on young ones,” it said.

Senior IFS officer and in-charge of the national park Sanjiv Chaturvedi said the phenomenon of tigers eating elephants is unique.

“One of its reasons could be that tigers need a comparatively lesser amount of effort and energy in killing an elephant as against that needed in hunt of species like Sambhar and 

Cheetal. Killing an elephant results in a large quantum of food for them too,” said Chaturvedi, director of the park.

He said the national park has a unique ecosystem as there are 225 tigers and around 1,100 wild elephants, whereas other national parks like Ranthambore, Kanha and Bandhavgarh mainly have tigers.

Even in cases where elephants were killed in infighting, tigers were found eating their body parts, the study said. This peculiar aspect of tiger-elephant conflict needs to be studied in further detail, the study added.

Wildlife activist Ajay Dubey said this tiger-elephant conflict is unheard of and needs immediate attention.

In case of tigers, the total number of deaths during the five-year period was nine and out of these, 80 per cent (seven) cases were due to infighting, the study said.

Tigers have very strong territorial instincts and this emerged as one of the dominant causes of infighting deaths. — PTI