A male elephant was found dead by Forest Department officials in the Chethalayath forest range of the South Wayanad forest division on Wednesday.
Officials attached to the forest division and veterinarians performed a necropsy in the evening.
The carcass of the single tusker was found on a rivulet at Thoppadikkolly inside the Pathiri reserve forest, near Manal Vayal in the district, T. Sasikumar, forest range officer, Chethalayath forest range, said.
They traced the elephant based on inputs from tribal people about a fight between two elephants. Estimated to be around 25 years old, the elephant died owing to the serious injuries caused by the fight with a lone tusker in “musth”, a periodic condition in bull elephants characterised by highly aggressive behaviour and accompanied by a large rise in reproductive hormones, Mr. Sasikumar said. “We are closely monitoring the movement of the lone tusker and have installed four surveillance cameras in the area for the purpose,” Mr. Sasikumar said.
