A 20-year-old female elephant was found dead with injuries in its abdomen and instestines partially gored out in Madukkarai range here.
Forest officials said the carcass was spotted by employees of a private firm in revenue landoutside the forest at Mathipalayam Karadu, a hillock in Madukkarai.
“The injuries could be due to a fall as the terrain is rocky and elephant are susceptible to such injuries when they fall in places like this. There is a possibility of the female elephant being attacked by a male elephant during mating,” said a forest officer.
Clarity on the cause of the death would emerge only after the postmortem on Wednesday, he said.