Fact check: Are Tigers eating elephants in Corbett National Park?
New Delhi, June 26: In a worrisome trend, tigers have been found to be killing and eating elephants, mainly young ones in the famed Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand.
An official study conducted from 2014 to May 31, 2019, found that around 21 elephants, nine tigers, and six leopards died due to infighting. What is raising the eyebrows is the fact that of the 21 elephant dead, 13 were killed by tigers.
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.
What is hurting tiger translocation project in India
21 elephants
Out of 21 elephant deaths, the study attributes 13 (60 per cent) to attacks by tigers, mostly on young elephants. It suggests that this may be happening because hunting an elephant requires less energy than hunting a sambar or a cheetal, and because an elephant provides a larger quantity of food.
Even in cases where elephants were killed in infighting, tigers were found eating their body parts. Regarding remaining cases of death of wild elephants, it was mostly because of fight due to issue of mating.
9 tigers
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 remaining tigers were killed because of fights with porcupines and wild boars, it said.
6 leopards
In case of leopards, there were six deaths because of infighting. Of these, two third cases were due to attack by other carnivore species.
Out of four cases, in two cases, there were definitive evidences of killing by tigers but in rest of two cases, exact identity of attacking species is yet to be established. This aspect of tiger-leopard conflict is to be further studied in details. In remaining one third cases, it was because of mutual infighting among themselves.
The Corbett park is the first national park of India, established in 1936. It was then named Hailey National Park. In 1957, it was rechristened as the Corbett National Park in the memory of Jim Corbett, great naturalist and eminent conservationist.
The park, which is spread in an area of around 1,200 sq km, is situated at the foothills of the Himalayas. There are estimated 340 tigers in Uttarakhand, according to 2014 census of the big cats. The state has three tiger reserves -- Corbett National Park, Rajaji Tiger Reserve and Kalagarh Tiger Reserve.
India loses 51 tigers in five months, Madhya Pradesh tops the list
Corbett
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
.
The
study
was
conducted
in
wake
of
death
of
a
tigress
on
May
27,
2019,
because
of
infighting.
The
study
signals
a
worrying
trend
in
wildlife
as
tigers
usually
don't
eat
elephants
and
this
peculiar
aspect
of
tiger-elephant
conflict
needs
to
be
studied
in
further
details.