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Biggest Leopard Sub-species?
Topic Started: May 17 2012, 08:41 PM (41,452 Views)
ImperialDino
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Many so called "experts" can't seem to figure out with Leopard specie is the biggest, some say the leopards in Kruger national park, others say the Anatolian leopard, being an expert myself I personally say its the SRI LANKIAN Leopard being that it's the apex predator. Based off the pictures I've seen Sri Lankians can sometimes be mistaken for Jaguars. Based off of your knowledge, which leopard sub species is the biggest?

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Canidae
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The largest recorded I think are from Kruger, but i haven't heard of any hunting / weighing records from Sri Lanka or Eurasia. Though I would say the latter two are larger on average due to being the apex predator on the island and Bergmann's rule respectively. Bergmann's rule also works with Cougars, don't see why it shouldn't with Leopards.
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Bull and Terrier
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I remember an old book I have that stated that in one area males had reached 100kg, but don't know if it is true or what area that was mentioned. Anyway, I'm not sure but the three subspecies/areas mentioned are definently some of the largest leopards.
Edited by Bull and Terrier, May 17 2012, 09:45 PM.
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mohamad
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i thimk the amur leopard is the most bigger species of leopards !!
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ManEater
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Sri lankan leopards aren't the bigger , there are big specimens , but the largest weighed was 77kg .

http://www.theoceanbeacharugambay.com/sri-lanka-leopard

There are biggers maybe but not weighed for the moment .



Posted Image

There are big leopards in south africa , sometimes reaching 90kg .

Campan male leopard (don't know exactly his weight but he is impressive) :

Posted Image


The biggest ,in reliable data in africa, was however a 96kg leopard in namibia .

http://books.google.fr/books?id=E4JyZgr8y50C&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=leopard+96kg&source=bl&ots=5dp5cjXLEo&sig=5Cp81_V3w2h5HxEFt9GfnT4Lfc0&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=ZfO0T4WsOcmP0AWyybz-Ag&ved=0CE8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=leopard%2096kg&f=false

There are a lot of hunters shots ,in africa , with specimen who reach 200-220 lbs , but it is not reliable .

Posted Image


And the world record is a huge , big male indian leopard , called Balaji ,caught at 108kg and then 139kg in captivity .

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article863951.ece?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4cd0401513cf6f33,0

Posted Image


But the biggest skulls come from tropical forest of west africa (northern congo, central gabon etc) with 28cm + skulls(like the average size of the biggest jaguars subspecie : the pantanal one)for information , a big africain plain male leopard have got around 23cm skulls size, so we can see the difference .

Look a this equatorial monster :

Posted Image


There was an old poster in the old forum called Chui who had a lot of datas on this .

Bernard heuvelmans in this book :"les félins encore inconnus d'afrique" says there are 95kg male leopards in the aberdares and mount kenya, nakuru lake place , where a hunter killed(reliable record in rowland ward publication) a leopard with one of the biggest known skull :28.6cm .

It's true that these leopards are very impressive :

Posted Image

Posted Image



Persian are bigs also , with enormous paw , it is maybe the biggest like some claims , but so less datas on this beautiful specie .
A young male from iran was 64 kg , so yes there are bigs .

There was a research on weight from Iran , and they ranged from 44 to 91 kg with an average of 67 kg , on average the biggest subspecie . Kruger leopards average 60 kg for comparison , and they find persian leopard skulls the size of a tigress .

http://www.yemenileopard.org/files/cms/reports/No._2_June_2010.pdf

Posted Image
Edited by ManEater, May 17 2012, 11:13 PM.
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Homotherium
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There is not ONE largest subspieces.
The largest ones are Persian, Sri-Lanka & African leopards from Central Africa.
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ManEater
May 17 2012, 10:47 PM
Sri lankan leopards aren't the bigger , there are big specimens , but the largest weighed was 77kg .

http://www.theoceanbeacharugambay.com/sri-lanka-leopard

There are biggers maybe but not weighed for the moment .



Posted Image

There are big leopards in south africa , sometimes reaching 90kg .

Campan male leopard (don't know exactly his weight but he is impressive) :

Posted Image


The biggest ,in reliable data in africa, was however a 96kg leopard in namibia .

http://books.google.fr/books?id=E4JyZgr8y50C&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=leopard+96kg&source=bl&ots=5dp5cjXLEo&sig=5Cp81_V3w2h5HxEFt9GfnT4Lfc0&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=ZfO0T4WsOcmP0AWyybz-Ag&ved=0CE8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=leopard%2096kg&f=false

There are a lot of hunters shots ,in africa , with specimen who reach 200-220 lbs , but it is not reliable .

Posted Image


And the world record is a huge , big male indian leopard , called Balaji ,caught at 108kg and then 139kg in captivity .

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/article863951.ece?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4cd0401513cf6f33,0

Posted Image


But the biggest skulls come from tropical forest of west africa (northern congo, central gabon etc) with 28cm + skulls(like the average size of the biggest jaguars subspecie : the pantanal one)for information , a big africain plain male leopard have got around 23cm skulls size, so we can see the difference .

Look a this equatorial monster :

Posted Image


There was an old poster in the old forum called Chui who had a lot of datas on this .

Bernard heuvelmans in this book :"les félins encore inconnus d'afrique" says there are 95kg male leopards in the aberdares and mount kenya, nakuru lake place , where a hunter killed(reliable record in rowland ward publication) a leopard with one of the biggest known skull :28.6cm .

It's true that these leopards are very impressive :

Posted Image

Posted Image



Persian are bigs also , with enormous paw , it is maybe the biggest like some claims , but so less datas on this beautiful specie .
A young male from iran was 64 kg , so yes there are bigs .

There was a research on weight from Iran , and they ranged from 44 to 91 kg with an average of 67 kg , on average the biggest subspecie . Kruger leopards average 60 kg for comparison , and they find persian leopard skulls the size of a tigress .

http://www.yemenileopard.org/files/cms/reports/No._2_June_2010.pdf

Posted Image
Great post ManEater, yeah, I remember Chui too, he was the top man on leopards!

I remember the huge pugmarks in the old thread 'Huge Leopards in Iran' but sadly it was forgotten in the transfer.
Do you know if Equatorial african Leopards have huge skulls on average or just the extremes? They also take larger prey in such areas due to the lack of Lions / Spotted Hyena, but I.M.O interspecific competition / prey can't be that large a factor as Iran Leopards have Wolves, Striped Hyenas and Brown Bears.
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Icestorm
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ImperialDino
 
Many so called "experts" can't seem to figure out with Leopard specie is the biggest, some say the leopards in Kruger national park, others say the Anatolian leopard, being an expert myself I personally say its the SRI LANKIAN Leopard being that it's the apex predator. Based off the pictures I've seen Sri Lankians can sometimes be mistaken for Jaguars. Based off of your knowledge, which leopard sub species is the biggest?

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ManEater
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Canidae : In northern Congo , 7 males leopards were measured , and they averaged 261mm at the skull , with two who had 279mm and 282mm .
And 3 specimen from Gabon's coast averaged 274mm with the biggest at 282mm .
I agree it's a small sample , but it is so impressive . We must not forget that the big males from the african savanah (always them who are taking in examples in fight to fight) have got skulls of 230mm , 260mm for the top biggest .
So i think there are monsters in african forests and aberdares , in fact , in place where there are no competitors .

For the persian leopard , it is often cited as an apex predator :
http://www.wcs.org/press/press-releases/wcs-confirms-return-of-persian-leopard.aspx
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205140519.htm

They kill boars and cows !
http://www.wildlife.ir/files/library/cn46_farhadinia_et_al.pdf

5 cows killed by a persian leopard :

http://www.wildlife.ir/ShowInfo.aspx?Lang=2&InfoId=309


And maybe the cold climate favor big specimen .(bergmann's rule)

All of this can play .

And i think Indian forest leopard can be huge too(in area with no tigers) , Balaji , the record , weighed 108 kg when he was wild .


PS : i hope one day , Chui will return , he knew so much things , and have a lot of rare documentation .
Edited by ManEater, May 18 2012, 08:56 PM.
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ManEater
 
In northern Congo , 7 males leopards were measured , and they averaged 261mm at the skull , with two who had 279mm and 282mm .
And 3 specimen from Gabon's coast averaged 274mm with the biggest at 282mm .
I agree it's a small sample , but it is so impressive . We must not forget that the big males from the african savanah (always them who are taking in examples in fight to fight) have got skulls of 230mm , 260mm for the top biggest .
So i think there are monsters in african forests and aberdares , in fact , in place where there are no competitors .

Very interesting. Whilst still a small sample, the fact that the average from all cats measured was so high I'd suggest that on average cats there are very large.

ManEater
 


Looking at other predators again, whilst there is a high amount the competitors aren't all that aggressive. Brown Bear / Striped Hyena wouldn't pose much of a threat as they'd only scavenge and neither would wolves in the area due to their small size and low group numbers.
I'm looking up on Persian Leopards, seem they eat mainly Boar / Wild sheep.

I agree all of it can play, I think chalking it up to a single factor wouldn't be a good idea when there are many variables between different habitats, though serious competitors seem to play a role. Maybe due to the size of equatorial cats, Bergmann's rule may not be that important? But then again we have no data on Persian weights or measurements, they may be considerably larger than even equatorial cats.

ManEater
 
PS : i hope one day , Chui will return , he knew so much things , and have a lot of rare documentation .

Definitley agree!
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ManEater
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Chui had impressive measurements on persian leopards , but i haven't got the datas . (like a sub-adult male who was already 64kg )
I will try to find some documentation btw .
I agree that the competition in Iran with persian leopards is near to 0 , no reals competitors , so the leopard is not really worried .
And i think that bergmann's rule is more an indication , not a mathematic law who is always right .

Edited by ManEater, May 19 2012, 08:18 PM.
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ManEater
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Quoted from the GEF small grants programme

"Endangered Persian Leopard Conservation, Golestan National Park

Country: Iran

Description:
Located in northwest of Golestan province in the north of Iran near the Turkmenistan border and in the Caspian Sea region, Golestan National Park is one of the oldest and most ecologically diverse protected areas of Iran, covering 900 square kilometers of Hyrcan jungle, high altitude juniper covered mountains and dry plain steppes vegetation. Golestan is a mixture of deciduous jungle and dry lands. Golestan is home to a variety of wildlife species such as Brown bear, Persian ibex, wild sheep, wild boar, roe deer, red deer, wild cat and the endangered Persian leopard. Traditionally, a healthy habitat and diverse prey base made Golestan an ideal ecosystem for the Persian leopard to thrive, with some cats weighing up to 100 kilograms. "

interesting datas on persian leopard (a 86kg male)
and the biggest skull is said to be a persian leopard :
http://www.kasparek-verlag.de/PDFs/041-048%20Kiabi-Leopard.pdf


100 kilos + anatolian leopard ?
http://www.freewebs.com/anatolianleopard/abstract.htm
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4444/is_3_20/ai_n29031416/

"The hunter was called Mantolu Hasan who killed more than 15 Anatolian Leopards. Mostly by poison from 50′s to 70′s.
He was an addict…
Some of the leopards that he killed were over 100 kgs."

http://bigcatrescue.org/2011/anatolian-leopards
Edited by ManEater, May 21 2012, 01:17 AM.
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werewolf2012
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mohamad
May 17 2012, 10:30 PM
i thimk the amur leopard is the most bigger species of leopards !!
For some reason Amur leopards are actually one of the smallest subspecies. One case where Bergmann's rule doesnt seem to apply for some strange reason (maybe food availability).

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1977marc
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Hi guys,

Long time no see. I posted a few things in the past on the old forum. :)
Leopards are my favourite species and I did not want you to be excluded from some nice info about the biggest leopards form The Sabi Sands SA.

Here is what a well know photographer had to say to me about the big boys he has seen.

"I am still sold that Ottawa was the biggest male walking around here.
At the risk of being scoffed at, he was close to 100kg in my opinion.
Posted Image


As for the past, there was a male called Mbombi many years back, and not having known him, or seen him, cannot judge his size, but the story goes that when he was old, he was involved in a serious fight with another male. This caused him to lose alot of weight and condition, and the decision was made to dart him, from which he unfortunatly never woke up. When he was weighed, in his bad state, he allegedly weighed in at 103kg. This was in the early 90's.

As for Wallingford, Posted Image
he was in truth not that large, just a well established male, with a territory that he in all likelihood woul not have kept for as long as he did if he were somewhere central. His luck, was that he did not have to deal with intruders from the north, west or south, as these were all fenced boundries, and his only competition was from theeast in the form of Ottawa.

A Larger male, when in good condition, was a very nervous male we used to see occasionally here in the west, called Kinky Tail. He was huge, much larger than Wallingford, but it is always difficult to judge sizes if you do not get great views because the animals are always running or hiding.

Which is the current situation in the West, there is a skittish male called Ndlevane, he is the monster of the reserve at present, but runs away from cars. The rangers believe he is not that much of a threat, because they always see him running away from other males when they are having fights, but that is only because he is afraid of the vehicles, the rangers do not see him hammering the other males when they are not around to chase him away.

Of the relaxed males, Kashane is big, but in my opinion will only be massive in another 2 or 3 years, he is still fairly young, and has alot to fill out, but when he does, there will be few males able to rival him in size.

So, in conclusion, although Wallingford had a great reputation, he was not that big, and would certainly not make a top 10. His reputation came from him holding a territory for longer than normal, and not size.
Ottawa would be the largest that I have seen regularly, but having seen Ndlevane, he may be close to being bigger, just have not seen enough of him..
"


Edited by 1977marc, May 22 2012, 04:43 AM.
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pars
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According to the available information based on the reports of scientists and statistics the biggest leopards (weighing more than 55 kg as average fo rmale) are leopards found in:

- Northern Iran (claims of males up to 100 kg, 19 males from different regions measured between 44 - 91 kg, since these measurements include the leopards of southern/central Iran where the prey density is low and the animals are smaller then their Northern version it is hard to say anything abouth the average male of Northern Iran but should be around 70 - 75 kg., skull of 283 mm have been measured, which is almost in the same size of a tigress), Caucasia (very large males reported by naturalist and scientist in !9th century), western parts of Anatolia (extinct, males up to 100 kg reported), Turkmenistan (males as large as 2,5 m. (including a 90 cm tail) have been reported, taking into account the weigh (64 kg) of a 115 cm Persian leopard it can be around 100 kg.) and maybe Afghanistan....main prey of Persian in most of its range is boar, red deer, wild goat, wild sheep, wild ass, roe deer, persian gazelle and cow. in some parts chamois and mouflon...

- some parts of India (a 108 kg. male has been caught, besides it, as far as I remember the average of a measurement for males in a region was around 65 kg.)

- Morocco and Algeria (almost extinct, claims of very large specimen of Barbary leopard from 19th century. thes animals were mainly preying on wild boar, red deer and barbary sheep)

- Central Africa (Kongo, Ghana...): very large skulls have been measured (260 - 270 mm)

- Mountainous areas of Kenya/Uganda: reports from scientists claim that average male is bigger then savannah leopard

- some parts of South Africa/Namibia


The leopards living in the regions mentionned above are:

- Persian leopard

- African leopard

- Indian leopard


Among those the biggest seem to be Persian and African. Since we do not have enogh measurements from Iran and these parts of Africa it is not possible to determine the largest subspecies. Maybe the averages is almost the same

After Persian, African and Indian, the largest is Sri Lanka: average is 56 kg. the largest is 77 kg. and Indochinese average is 55 kg the largest is 75 kg.




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