Leopards of Wilpattu

5th October 2023 at 1.02am one leopard between Nelum Wila and Panikkar Villu. N 08.40024, E 079.96857
On my way back to Kombansanchipooval I was pleased to have met with a leopard between Nelum Wila and Panikkar Villu. It was a young male leopard and moved into the forest the moment I saw him. After having waited for some time, I drove up to the point where he entered the forest and was thrilled to have spotted him seated among the foliage. Only its head was visible, and I managed get one image before he moved into the forest. Later upon checking its spot pattern I was pleased to note that this is Panikkar Villu Male 2 PVMC 2 on my site. This is one of the cubs of the second litter of Panikkar Villu Female 2. My first sighting of this leopard was on the 16th of October 2022 with its mother at a Spotted Deer kill at Panikkar Villu bungalow junction. This is my second sighting of this young male.

16th October 2022 at 4.30pm 2 leopards close to the Spotted Deer kill at Panikkar villu. N 08.39850, E 079.95758

They were about 20 feet from the kill but were hardly visible due to the foliage. With much difficulty I managed to get a few record images of the adult female adequate to study her spot pattern. As expected, it was Panikkar Villu Female 2 (PVFC 2). Despite being able to observe her cub which was lying close to her there was no opportunity for me to get any images due to it being covered with a curtain of foliage. Thus, I drove down towards the Panikkar Villu bungalow and waited for about 5 minutes before returning. Thankfully the curious cub had moved and was watching me from an opening in the foliage permitting me to get a few clear images of its head. This is my first sighting of this cub. It was a male cub of about one year. I named it Panikkar Villu Male 2 with the code (PVMC 2) for the purpose of my study.