Sri Lankan leopard nocturnal territorial scent-marking: cheek rubbing on rocky inselbergs?
4 Answers from travellers
In Wilpattu and Yala, the Sri Lankan Leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) functions as the island's apex terrestrial predator. Because ranges overlap across waterhole territories, males maintain non-overlapping core areas using chemical scent-marking between dusk and dawn. Leopards scrape sandy soil with their hind paws, leaving distinct paired 20cm ruts while spraying urine mixed with anal sac pheromones backward onto prominent trailside shrubs. On granite inselbergs, males rub their submandibular and cheek glands vigorously against vertical rock faces, depositing sebaceous lipids that signal body size and identity to rivals.
Trackers inspect fresh scrape marks at 6:00 AM; undisturbed scent piles indicate which trail corridor a male traversed during the preceding night.
Vocal sawing calls (resembling a coarse wood saw cutting timber) accompany territorial patrols, traveling over two kilometers through dry-zone scrub air.
Claw raking on the trunks of Palu (Manilkara hexandra) trees leaves vertical bark gouges up to two meters high, visually marking territorial occupancy.
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