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Prasanth Sreenivasan
04-04-2013, 07:43 PM
Hi Friends,

Just thought of sharing this news & picture which was published in Malayalamanorama & The Hindu newspaper today, with you. The images captured at The Silent Valley National park, Kerala, through a camera trap are believed to be a rarest documentation of a Tiger eating an elephant.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/tigers-hunt-down-calf-young-elephant/article4579517.ece

Roopak Gangadharan
05-04-2013, 01:32 PM
had seen this in the papers. as the report says both declining prey base for the predator and availability of adequate fodder and water for the prey is resulting in some unusal behaviour.some of the pervious reports from wayand were not quite substantiated.

TFS
Roopak

Saktipada Panigrahi
08-04-2013, 10:54 AM
Young elephant calf has always remained in the special 'menu' of tiger. That tiger is very rarely successful is another issue- the protective cover given by the elephant herd and family bond. Further, in most of the cases a male tiger in its prime can muster enough courage to make such a lightning strike. Such instances had happened in a number of forests in the past, however, recording image using camera-trap method is for the first time to the best of my information.
I think, there may not be much linkage with the density of other prey species like deer, pig, langur and antelope. Thanks for sharing.SaktiWild

Sabyasachi Patra
10-04-2013, 08:12 PM
What was the age of that elephant?

Tiger will not let lose an opportunity to kill an elephant if it gets one. I had one report of a tiger killing an elephant in Eravikulam. I had happend about 4-5 days before I reached there and the role of the tiger in the killing was unquestionable.

In Corbet, Malani range, a tiger was growling and circling the elephant herd and the elephants were trumpetting loudly. The action was happening within the thicket and was partly visible.

Tigers are known to kill elephant calf whenever the calf strays or the mother is not careful.

As far as unusual prey is concerned, I had once got the shot of a tiger catching a pangolin and trying to break its tough scales. The pangolin had tied itself to a knot and saved itself. The point is, even with lot of prey, the tiger had caught the pangolin which is not its prey.