Leopards of Wilpattu

7th March 2023 at 7.30am One adult male leopard with a large Sambhur kill across the water body at Borupan Wila. N 08.42402, E 080.02402

The carcass was lying in an open patch of Pipeworts (Kok Mota) by the water’s edge. It was likely that the leopard killed the Sambhur very close to dawn as the carcass was mostly intact except for the stomach area. Usually when a leopard makes a “kill” of a large animal it would start feeding from the stomach and feed on the soft organs of the animal. It was an adult male leopard but not the dominant male in this area. Upon examining its spot pattern, I was thrilled to note that this is the leopard I had listed under Leopards of Wilpattu – Guest section as Walas Wala Leopard 3. As this is my first sighting of this male, I named it Borupan Wila Male 3 with a code BWM 3. Other than for a quick drive to Kokkare villu we stayed at this location until around 5pm and observed. As I have been requested to write an article by the Wildlife & Nature Protection Society to the Loris magazine on my observations on this day long sighting which included a confrontation between a Sloth Bear and the leopard, I would hold back the images and descriptions here and attach the article and the images upon its publication in May this year.