Bijnor (Uttar Pradesh), Dec 1 (IANS): A male elephant, about 40 years old, was found dead in Amangarh Tiger Reserve (ATR).

A forest team ventured into the reserve and found the carcass, lying in a six-foot-deep ditch on Monday evening.

The carcass bore at least 50 deep gashes and contusions and blood was splattered all around.

The spot was about 10 kilometres from the ATR guest house inside the dense forest. The Corbett National Park is about one kilometre from the spot.

Experts feel that there must have been a violent bloody battle between pachyderms that left one bull elephant dead.

Anil Kumar Patel, Bijnor DFO, said that the battle could have been between the elephants over dominance or over a mating issue.

"Sometimes, an elephant is killed by all members of the herd when it troubles others and causes anarchy," he explained.

Patel said Moradabad's Forest conservator, Vijay Singh, inspected the place. The post-mortem was conducted under the supervision of a team from the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) of Bareilly. It revealed excessive bleeding as the cause of death.

The tusker's viscera have been sent to Bareilly for testing. Its denture was preserved while the rest of the carcass was buried, he said.

As per norms, the tusks are preserved till permission is granted to burn and destroy them by the higher authorities. The tusks cannot be sold in the market, forest department officials said.

The DFO further said, "The dead elephant sustained many deep gashes and contusions. After losing the battle, it may have tried to flee which explains how it fell into a deep ditch and bled to death there."

Amangarh, a buffer zone of Corbett Park in neighbouring Uttarakhand, is home to at least 102 elephants. Elephant herds freely move about between Amangarh and Corbett as there is no natural barrier. The well-maintained waterholes and lush forests attract elephant herds to ATR.