Tigers killing, eating elephants at Corbett

New Delhi : Tigers have been found to be killing elephants, mainly young ones, in the famed Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand and in a few cases eating them too, according to an official study.

The findings, which is a part of the study conducted by the park authority, signals 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 comparatively less amount of efforts and energy in killing an elephant as against that needed in hunt of species like Sambhar and Cheetal.

Killing an elephant results in 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 details, it added.

"Regarding remaining cases of death of wild elephants, it was mostly because of fight due to issue of mating," the study said. Wildlife activist Ajay Dubey said this tiger-elephant conflict is unheard of and need immediate attention.

"It is really surprising and worrying that tigers are eating elephant. Authorities must look into this aspect and take necessary steps," he said.

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