GX012035 Wilpaththu National Park Entrance Ticket Office Museum #wildlife #wilpattunationalpark

Wilpattu National Park (Sinhala: විල්පත්තු ජාතික වනෝද්‍යානය) is one of the oldest national parks in Sri Lanka. The unique feature of this park is the existence of "Willus" (natural lakes) – natural, sand-rimmed water basins or depressions that fill with rainwater. Located on the northwest coast lowland dry zone of Sri Lanka, the park is 30 km (19 mi) west of Anuradhapura and 26 km (16 mi) north of Puttalam (approximately 180 km (110 mi) north of Colombo). The park is 1,317 km2 (508 sq mi) (131,693 hectares) in area and ranges from 0–152 m (0–499 ft) above sea level. Nearly one hundred and six lakes (Willu) and tanks are found spread throughout Wilpattu There are many types of vegetation to be found in Wilpattu, including littoral vegetation, such as salt grass and low scrub monsoon forest with tall emergents, such as palu (Manilkara hexandra), and satin (Chloroxylon swietenia), milla (Vitex altissima), weera (Drypetes sepiaria), ebony (Diospyros ebenum) and wewarna (Alseodaphne semecapriflolia). 31 species of mammals have been identified within Wilpattu national park. Mammals that are identified as threatened species living within the Wilpattu National Park are the elephant (Elephas maximus maximus), sloth bear (Melursus ursinus inornatus), leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) and water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis). sambar (Rusa unicolor unicolor), spotted deer (Axis axis ceylonensis), mongoose, mouse and shrew are more of Wilpattu's residents. Birds The painted stork, the open bill, little cormorant, Sri Lankan junglefowl (Gallus lafayetii) along with many species of owls, terns, gulls, eagles, kites buzzards are to be found at Wilpattu National Park. Wetland bird species that can be seen in Wilpattu are the garganey (Anas querquedula), pintail (Anas acuta), whistling teal (Dendrocygna javanica), spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), black-headed ibis (Threskiornis malanocephalus), large white egret (Egretta alba modesta), cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) and purple heron (Ardea purpurea). Leopards Wilpattu is world-renowned for its leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) population. A remote camera survey conducted in Wilpattu from July to October 2015 by the Wilderness and Wildlife Conservation Trust captured photographs of forty-nine individual leopards in the surveyed area, the core area density of which was between that of Yala National Park's Block I and Horton Plains National Park.[3] A second, more extensive camera trap survey was conducted from May to September 2018 by Samarasinghe et al. (2022), covering a substantial area of the national park, approximately 660 km2, and capturing a total of 133 individual leopards.[4] This count comprised 116 independent leopards (aged over 2 years) and 17 cubs. Eight adult females were observed with 1–2 cubs during the study. Utilizing Bayesian spatial capture-recapture models, the population density of leopards in Wilpattu National Park was estimated to be 18 leopards per 100 km2. The mean abundance within the effectively sampled area was calculated to be 144 leopards. Notably, the national park maintains a healthy sex ratio of male to female leopards, estimated to be 1:2.03.[4] Reptiles The most common reptiles found in the park are the Sri Lankan land monitor (varanus bengalensis), mugger crocodile (crocodylus palustris), Sri Lankan cobra (naja naja), rat snake (ptyas mucosus), Sri Lankan python (python molurus), Sri Lankan black turtle (melanochelys trijuga) and Sri Lankan flapshell turtle (lissemys ceylonensis) which are resident in the large permanent villus.