2nd October 2022 at 8.01am an adult male leopard on the road at Thambioluwa. N 08.38510, E 080.06034
As I drove up to Thambioluwa from Maradanmaduwa spotted the leopard on the road, walking away from me. It was an adult male leopard and almost instantly walked off the road to the left. I drove up to the point where he walked into the forest and spotted the leopard walking past the famous old bent Palu tree at this locality. Despite a troop of Grey Langurs making loud alarm calls announcing the presence of a leopard he did not move into the forest but walked parallel to the road. Expecting the leopard to move back on to the road I drove ahead, turned, and waited. Within a few minutes he moved back on to the edge of the road and looked in my direction for a few seconds from behind a tree and walked across to the other side of the forest. Having studied the spot pattern I noted that this is the elusive male leopard I have included under Leopards of Wilpattu – Guest section as Maradanmaduwa Leopard 7. He usually seen occasionally around Maradanmaduwa and Thambioluwa. I estimated his age to be around 5 years. I named it Thambioluwa Male 1 with the code (TOM 1) for the purpose of my study.
