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Project Noah Nature School
Panthera pardus kotiya
Large big cat roughly 6-7 ft in length, males are larger and bulky in the shoulder, and females have longer tails and well defined waist. Rosettes are smaller and well defined. Most active dusk and dawn. The top predator on the island.
Scrub brush and dense forest on the island likes to sun themselves on the abundant rock out crops in the park.
The large male seen here seemed disinterested to the observers and we had about a thirty minute observation before he wandered off into the cover. The female seemed to be hunting only after contemplating her morning by the lake. Our guides helped us to observe her rounding the lake and the grey langurs and tocque macques started to give warning hoots as she approached the far side of the lake.The female as she appeared from the forest on the far side, she was then chased off by a pair of adult water buffalo. This ended our sighting.
Spotted on Jan 1, 2014
Submitted on Jan 5, 2014
4 Comments
Hi tbrett, I just found your Yala mission and joined. I am in the process of uploading some pre-tsunami photos which may provide some useful information on its status before the event. It will take time to find those already posted to add to it.
Thank you Maria and Tom. :)
What a wonderful sighting and very nice series! It is so nice to see some of these large cats surviving in the wild!
What a great sighting and thanks for all the info about your encounter!