The
Sri Lankan leopard (
Panthera pardus kotiya), colloquially known as
Kotiya in Sinhala and
Puli in
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
, is a subspecies of
leopardThe leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera; the other three being the tiger, lion and jaguar...
native to
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
. However, "kotiyā" is now the colloquial Sinhala name for the
tiger and "diviyā" is used for the leopard. See below for more information.
A recent study has shown that
Yala National ParkYala National Park is the 2nd largest national park in Sri Lanka.It is situated in the southeast region of the island in the dry zone. The park is situated about 300 km from Colombo which is capital city of Sri Lanka. Yala park belongs to two provinces in Sri Lanka namely Uva Province and...
has one of the highest recorded densities of leopards in the world, although this animal is still considered to be endangered.
The
Sri Lankan leopard (
Panthera pardus kotiya), colloquially known as
Kotiya in Sinhala and
Puli in
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
, is a subspecies of
leopardThe leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera; the other three being the tiger, lion and jaguar...
native to
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
. However, "kotiyā" is now the colloquial Sinhala name for the
tiger and "diviyā" is used for the leopard. See below for more information.
A recent study has shown that
Yala National ParkYala National Park is the 2nd largest national park in Sri Lanka.It is situated in the southeast region of the island in the dry zone. The park is situated about 300 km from Colombo which is capital city of Sri Lanka. Yala park belongs to two provinces in Sri Lanka namely Uva Province and...
has one of the highest recorded densities of leopards in the world, although this animal is still considered to be endangered. The
Wilpattu National ParkWilpattu National Park is a park located on the island of Sri Lanka. The unique feature of this park is the existence of “Willus” - Natural, sand-rimmed water basins or depressions that fill with rainwater. Located in the Northwest coast lowland dry zone of Sri Lanka...
in
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
is also known as a good place to watch leopards. Leopards tend to be more readily observed in parts of Sri Lanka than in other countries where they share their habitat with more dominant competitors, such as
lionThe Lion is one of four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s or
hyaenaFor the Siouxsie & the Banshees album, see Hyæna.Hyaena is a genus of two living species of hyenas: The striped hyena from western Asia and northern Africa and the brown hyena from southern Africa. It has been argued that the brown hyena should be placed in the genus Parahyeana or even...
s.
Description
The Sri Lankan leopard is one of the nine known subspecies of leopard. Its coat is tawny or rusty yellow, stamped with dark spots and rosettes. Seven females that were weighed averaged 29 kg; males averaged 56 kg, with the largest being 77 kg.
Range and habitat
This leopard is found only in Sri Lanka, and is the country's top
predatorIn ecology, predation describes a biological interaction where a predator feeds on its prey, . Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of the prey...
. Little has been known about it in the past, but ongoing studies (The Leopard Project, run by The Wilderness and Wildlife Conservation Trust,
http://www.wwct.org) indicate that they are still distributed throughout the island both inside and outside of protected areas. The leopard has been observed in a variety of
habitatThe term habitat has a number of meanings:* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows** Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
s including dry
evergreenIn botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaves all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
monsoonA pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
forest, arid scrub jungle, low and upper
montaneIn biogeography, montane is the highland area located below the subalpine zone. Montane regions generally have cooler temperatures and often have higher rainfall than the adjacent lowland regions, and are frequently home to distinct communities of plants and animals.The term "montane" means "of the...
(highland) forest,
rainforestRainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests.From 40 to 75%...
, and wet zone intermediate forests.
Feeding
Like most cats, the Sri Lanka leopard is pragmatic in its choice of diet which can include small mammals, birds, reptiles as well as larger animals.
Axis or spotted deerThe Sri Lankan axis deer or Ceylon Spotted Deer is a subspecies of axis deer that inhabits only Sri Lanka.The name chital is not used in Sri Lanka.-Food:...
make up the majority of its diet in the dry zone. The animal also preys on
sambarSambar , is the common name for several large dark brown and maned Asian deer, particularly for the Indian species , which attains a height of 102 to 160 cm at the shoulder and may weigh as much as 546 kg , though more typically 162-260 kg...
, barking deer, wild boar and monkeys. The cat has been known to tackle almost fully grown buffalos.
The leopard hunts like other leopards, silently stalking its prey until it is within striking distance where it unleashes a burst of speed to quickly pursue and pounce on its victim. The prey is usually dispatched with a single bite to the throat.
Biology
A recent study in Yala National Park (The Leopard Project) indicates that Sri Lankan leopards are not any more social, nor less nocturnal, than other populations. They are solitary hunters, with the exception of females with young. Both sexes live in overlapping territories with the ranges of males overlapping the smaller ranges of several females, as well as overlapping the ranges of neighbouring males.
The breeding season is throughout the year with a non-significant peak in the dry season. A
litterA litter is the offspring at one birth of animals from the same mother and usually from one set of parents. The word is most often used for the offspring of mammals, but can be used for any animal that gives birth to multiple young...
usually consists of 2 cubs. Unlike some other leopards, Sri Lanka leopards appear to rarely cache kills in trees. This is consistent with other populations where the leopard is the
apex predatorApex predators is a predator that has virtually no predators of its own, residing at the top of its food chain...
as there is no requirement for them to store their prey in places which are inaccessible to other predators.
Threats
The survival of the Sri Lankan leopard has been threatened due to poaching, habitat loss, and persecution. Despite these threats, the animal is highly adaptable and is able to live in close proximity to human settlements. Years of civil unrest in Sri Lanka have hampered conservation efforts, especially in the Wilpattu national park and eastern regions contested by government forces and the LTTE.
Conservation
Further research into the Sri Lankan leopard is needed for any conservation measure to be effective. The Leopard Project under the Wilderness and Wildlife Conservation Trust (WWCT) is working closely with the government of Sri Lanka to ensure this occurs. The Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society will also undetake some studies. The WWCT are currently engaged in the central hills region where fragmentation of the leopard's habitat is rapidly occurring.
Misidentification
In late 80s and early 90s, the word 'kotiya' was being frequently incorrectly translated into English as "
tigerThe tiger is a member of the Felidae family; the largest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera. Native to much of eastern and southern Asia, the tiger is an apex predator and an obligate carnivore...
" in Sri Lankan media due to incorrect information that was received from the then head of the Wildlife Department in Sri Lanka. He had allegedly said. that "there are no kotiyas (tigers) in Sri Lanka but diviyās", misinterpreting
Panthera pardus kotiya as "diviyā" (Sinhala term used for small wild cats). Although it is correct that there are there are no tigers in Sri Lanka, the formal Sinhala word for tiger is "viyagraya" and not "kotiyā".
Panthera pardus kotiya (Sri Lanka leopard) is the kotiyā proper, and there is no such creature as
Panthera pardus diviya. Unfortunately Sri Lankans started to use "kotiyā" to mean "tiger", so "diviyā" was chosen for "leopard".
The term "diviyā" has been used for centuries in Sri Lanka to refer to smaller wild species of the cat family such as "Handun Diviyā" or "Kola Diviyā" (both names are used interchangbly for the
Fishing CatThe Fishing Cat is a medium-sized cat whose disjunct global range extends from eastern Pakistan through portions of India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, throughout Bangladesh and Mainland Southeast Asia to Sumatra and Java. Its fur has an olive-grey color with dark spots arranged stripe-like running along...
and the
Rusty-spotted catThe Rusty-spotted Cat is a very small wild cat of southern India and Sri Lanka. It is 35-48 cm in length, plus 15-25 cm tail, weighing in at only approximately 1.5 kg...
).
A further complicating factor is that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) are colloquially known to the Sinhala-speaking community as 'Koti', the plural form of 'Kotiyā'.
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