Bhopal, Apr 12 (IANS): A one-and-a-half-year-old elephant was reportedly killed by a tiger in Madhya Pradesh's Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve (BTR) located in Umaria district.

The incident occurred on Monday when the baby elephant got separated from the herd owing to bad weather conditions and was attacked by a male tiger, a forest official said.

The forest officials found the body of the elephant calf while patrolling an area in the Panpatha Corps range of BTR on Monday. They also saw a tiger near the body along with pug marks in the surrounding area. The elephant's body had marks of tiger attack on the neck, the official said.

"This is the first time that a tiger has hunted a wild elephant, not just in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, but in whole of Madhya Pradesh," the official said.

"After the incident, questions are being raised whether a tiger can kill a wild elephant. Yes, if the elephant is below five years of age, it can be killed by a mature tiger. In this case, the baby elephant was just one-and-a-half-year-old. The tiger must have killed the elephant because it was alone after getting seperated from the herd," Pushpendra Dwivedi, the wildlife warden at Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, told IANS.

Dwivedi said the baby elephant got separated from the herd due to bad weather conditions. One more baby elephant had got separated from the herd, but it was rescued unhurt and was reunited with the rest of the elephabts later, he said.

Notably, out of the six tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh, wild elephants are found in only two only two reserves -- Bandhavgarh and Sanjay-Dubri Tiger Reserve. According to forest officials, Bandhavgarh is home to more than 48 wild elephants.