COIMBATORE: A one and half years old male leopard was killed in territorial fight alleged with the tiger at Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in the Nilgiris district a couple of days ago.
Forest department found out the cause of death of the leopard following an examination of the carcass during the postmortem carried out by the animal husbandry department veterinarians Gohalan of Masinagudi and Bharath Jothi of Gudalur on Thursday afternoon.
"The skull of the leopard was damaged and the animal also had an injury in his neck and head. There were symptoms of the tiger attack. We suspect that it could be a territorial fight probably with a tiger and the fight escalated with them after a leopard cub might have approached to eat remains of sambar deer that was found near to the leopard carcass," said a forest department sources
Sources also added that the carcass was fresh and the territorial fight could have been ocurred on Tuesday and the anti poaching watchers noticed the carcass on Wednesday evening during their regular perambulation work at Adupudukutty reserve forest in Mudumalai.
Members of Masinagudi Eco Nature Club and Prakurthi Save Nature present during the postmortem and the carcass was burnt as per the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) after postmortem.