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| Big territorial male leopards; Only territorial male leopards starting 60 kilograms and over | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 29 2012, 11:54 PM (256,439 Views) | |
| Kurtz | Mar 16 2016, 07:41 AM Post #1276 |
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Kleptoparasite
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Great finds guys... Nkosi 61 kg. male very stocky big head neck from Namibia he seems on steroids -WEIGHT: (2014) 61Kg (2015) 60Kg (2016) 61Kg- Btwn http://www.africat.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=523:leopard-madiba&catid=39:adoption the official 76 kliograms Madiba at Okonjima now is 6-7 yrs old and should weight a bit more in my opinion may be closer 80 kilos? Edited by Kurtz, Mar 16 2016, 07:42 AM.
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| chui | Mar 20 2016, 08:50 PM Post #1277 |
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Heterotrophic Organism
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Hey Kurtz, great to see you back. Those Okonjima males are all impressive looking beasts. Madiba is I think a good example of what the normal upper limit for a Southern African leopard is at around 75-80kg. Only the very occasional male will exceed this IMO in this region. The very fine, Anderson male. An apex example of a Southern African leopard, probably a genuine 80kg+.  |
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| ManEater | Mar 20 2016, 09:57 PM Post #1278 |
Omnivore
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Really love this "little" bulky male javan leopard: Edit: don't know if it was already posted, ethiopian leopard: 
Edited by ManEater, Mar 21 2016, 05:59 AM.
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| ManEater | Mar 28 2016, 11:40 PM Post #1279 |
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Omnivore
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Look a the difference of head size, it is from Rajasthan in India:  A leopard from Taï national park in Ivory coast:  The picture is from this site: http://www.parcnationaltai.com/ Edited by ManEater, Mar 29 2016, 08:14 AM.
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| Alexander Hamilton | Mar 31 2016, 05:48 PM Post #1280 |
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Unicellular Organism
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Tingana from the northern Sabi Sands next to a vehicle,a good picture that shows the size of a large male leopard compared to a group of people.Tingana is the 3rd biggest leopard in the Sabi Sands but much smaller than the Anderson male. 
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| 1977marc | Apr 1 2016, 06:06 PM Post #1281 |
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Heterotrophic Organism
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Tingana is a tank 80 kg + His head is huge and his neck is like a boeing. Mr Anderson frame is only a lot bigger, rangers mistake his footprints with a lioness. Just with the Camp Pan male |
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| ManEater | Apr 6 2016, 08:58 AM Post #1282 |
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Omnivore
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Leopard from Murchison Falls in Uganda:
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| Alexander Hamilton | Apr 11 2016, 10:32 PM Post #1283 |
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Unicellular Organism
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"But the best sighting I have ever had happened in August last year. On the previous afternoon game drive ranger Nick Sims had found a male leopard in the northern parts of the reserve after the leopard had managed to kill a young giraffe! When I caught news of this event I thought he was joking because leopards surely don’t hunt giraffe, do they? My curiosity got the better of me and we headed to the area the following morning. As we approached the area excitement was reaching boiling point! We could make out the shape of a predator in the distance and in that moment silence engulfed the vehicle… the closer we got we could soon tell that it wasn’t a leopard, but two hyenas feeding on a giraffe carcass. Everyone in the vehicle expected to see a leopard in the area so naturally they were quite disappointed. However, I told everyone that the leopard could still be somewhere around. We drove in a few concentric circles and sure enough, Euce managed to spot a massive male leopard sitting no more than 50 metres away from the kill. It was the Anderson Male. I had never seen this individual before and had only heard ell and about his size. To say I was in awe would probably be the understatement of the century. He is truly enormous! He looked fixedly at the hyenas with eyes wide open, possibly for an opportunity to regain his prize. The hyenas managed to dislodge a leg of the young giraffe and hastily made away with it. The leopard, without hesitation, ran towards the kill and swooped it up in one fluid motion. This caught the hyenas by surprise and they immediately dropped the leg they had been chewing on and charged back towards the carcass. The leopard dragged it at astonishing speed towards a nearby Cassia tree with the now trailing hyenas hot on his heels. He reached the trunk and without a second’s pause, hoisted it up in one seemingly effortless motion.While the carcass was being hoisted, one of the hyenas managed to grab hold of the back leg of the giraffe. This was the make or break moment for the leopard. It turned into a tug of war with the leopard up the tree and the hyena dangling in mid air hanging on to the giraffe’s leg. We could not believe what was transpiring in front of us. The hyena eventually conceded, falling back to the ground, and the exhausted leopard had claimed back the kill that he no doubt worked very hard for!We were left speechless by this raw display of brute strength. We watched the Anderson male for another couple of minutes before deciding to leave him with his hard-earned kill." http://blog.londolozi.com/2016/04/the-best-sighting-ive-been-in/ Anderson male 
Edited by Alexander Hamilton, Apr 11 2016, 11:31 PM.
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| chui | Apr 14 2016, 08:11 PM Post #1284 |
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Heterotrophic Organism
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Hey ManEater, that is a picture of M1 (also named Cosmos) who was actually captured and measured for a study. He was estimated at 3-5 years old on capture, he weighed 56kg, had a 54cm neck girth, and measured 138cm in body length (probably over the curves). Although nothing extraordinary in overall size, his neck girth is impressive for his size and suggests his head girth would've easily been around 56cm or more. For comparison, the average measurements of 5 mature adult male jaguars captured by Rabinowitz in Belize were 55.8kg, 133.6cm body length, and 56.4cm head girth. So his proportions appear similar to male jaguars of equal size. From: "Spatial organization of leopards Panthera pardus in Taï National Park, Ivory Coast" by David Jenny 1996.   Another male leopard captured at a later date in the Tai forest weighed 49kg but was only 3-4 years old (I've posted about this in the leopard/cougar weight comparison thread). However, even as fully mature adults (age 7+) these males probably wouldn't have been much over 60kg. It would be interesting to see how these leopards from the West African coastal forest compare to those from the Congo Basin forest in Central Africa. All the skull data I've found is actually from the Congo Basin region which can all be considered part of Central Africa. Pocock had categorized skulls from Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon under the label of West Africa and this is the classification I used in my post about leopard and cougar skulls from a few years ago. But now I think it makes much more sense to categorize Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and Cameroon with Central Africa as all these countries are covered by the continuous Congo Basin ecosystem. For the purpose of discussion on leopards I would consider West Africa to be the areas west of the Niger River as this river likely forms some sort of barrier for leopard populations. For example, recent studies suggest the lions to the east and west of this river are genetically distinguishable from each other. Logically, the same is probably true for leopards. Interestingly, I haven't found much data on West African leopard skulls in scientific publications. The only adult male skull I know of is one recorded by Pocock from northern Ghana (savanna belt). Under pristine conditions the leopards in West Africa were probably comparable to Central African leopards as the environment and prey appears to be similar. However, West African forests have been devastated to an even greater extent and leopard and prey populations here have largely been wiped out. In the Tai forest of Ivory Coast where the above leopards were studied prey taken appears to be generally less impressive than that in healthy areas of Gabon and DRC. Tai leopards prey largely on monkeys and duikers while those in Gabon prey heavily on red river hogs and in some places even young buffalo. This may either be because large prey numbers have been reduced in the Tai forest due to poaching or large prey there is just naturally lacking. A camera trap photograph of a leopard in Guinea Bissau. Looks like an impressive adult male. 
Edited by chui, Apr 14 2016, 08:23 PM.
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| ManEater | Apr 15 2016, 03:35 AM Post #1285 |
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Omnivore
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Hey Chui, looks like this Tai male is pretty similar in dimensions to the south african ones when i look a this study: I'm just surprised to see that the tai male is very long in body length, 138cm is impressive.  Nonetheless, a very interesting population who deserves more studies for its relationship with chimp, where it seems that some individuals can go "ape-killer" as suggested by Christophe Boesch. ____________________________ Kumana in Sri-lanka:  Wilpattu in Sri-lanka:   Edited by ManEater, Apr 15 2016, 03:37 AM.
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| chui | Apr 15 2016, 06:03 AM Post #1286 |
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Heterotrophic Organism
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The body length of the leopards in the KwaZulu Natal study was measured in a straight line. The Ivory Coast leopards were probably measured over the curves which normally adds an additional 10cm. The method of measurement is important to note when comparing body lengths of big cats. A leopard genuinely measuring 138cm in a straight line (or "between pegs") would definitely weigh over 56kg unless in poor condition. The Tai forest male appears to have a more developed jaguar like head compared to South African males which have a more cat like appearance with shorter faces. Good findings of Sri Lankan leopards from places outside Yala. Although Sri Lanka isn't a huge island there is a fair bit of variation in its environment types and I would be curious to see how this has effected the morphology of the leopards in different parts of the island. Some observers have noted that the male leopards of Wilpattu aren't as big as those from Yala but it's difficult to be sure without proper data. Wilpattu was in a conflict zone until recently so the adult leopards there are very shy as they had not been exposed to tourists. Most of the leopards photographed in Wilpattu appear to be young animals who are growing up with more exposure to people and thus not as shy. I guess we'll have to wait a couple of years until these youngsters are fully mature to see how they compare with those from Yala. One of the few photographs of a mature male in Wilpattu: "Driving towards the Chapman junction we kept hearing the call, and suddenly we came face to face with a big male leopard walking along the main road. He was very shy and was trotting ahead of our jeep. We tried getting closer but he kept trotting ahead. He constantly kept looking back at us while marking his territory. This was the first time I have seen a fully matured male in the park. He was massive with the normal skin folds along his neck and stomach which are signs of a mature male. We tried getting closer for a better shot but the cat got scared and ran into the bushes. It was late and almost 6.00 pm so we decided to head back out." http://wildlifediaries.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/a-long-weekend-well-spent.html  Also relevant excerpt from: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/041017/plus/10.html "Ravi has devoted much of the last ten years to extensive research on the leopards of Yala though the entirety of his findings is yet to be published. Meanwhile his interest has also been shifting slightly to Wilpattu. A mine of information and leopard lore, he says the Yala leopards are bigger, healthier and there are far more of them in Block 1, some 35 to 40, a higher density than in Wilpattu. If one were to take into account the cubs, the number would rise to around 50. At Wilpattu, he has been able to identify about 20 in the last six months. What concerns him is that with the deer population having been decimated in Wilpattu, the leopards are short of food. They also only produce single cubs, whereas leopards in Yala often have three cubs in a single litter." Edited by chui, Apr 15 2016, 06:16 AM.
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| chui | Apr 28 2016, 07:18 PM Post #1287 |
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Heterotrophic Organism
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More of the mighty Anderson male. "Then we heard that Anderson Male, that huge leopard, was in the vicinity with a buffalo in a tree. ‘A what?’ We asked again. ‘A buffalo’ came the reply. Scarcely able to credit what we had just heard we went directly to the spot. Sure enough! There was Anderson Male! And yes! That was definitely a buffalo up there. A calf, sure, but not a tiny one. That just shows how big and powerful this leopard is. We saw buffalo tracks everywhere, and putting the sequence of events together we realised that Anderson Male must have found the buffalo herd sleeping, and undaunted by their sheer number and huge size, had made a kill at some stage during the night." http://www.tuskphoto.com/tour-blog/  His lion like appearance reminds me of Sri Lankan male leopards like these guys.  
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| ManEater | Apr 29 2016, 03:07 AM Post #1288 |
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Omnivore
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I know we can't judge or estimate the size of an animal with a photo, but the more I see pictures of sri-lankan specimens, the more I think that it's a shame there is no proper complete studies on the size of skulls etc of these sri lanka leopards with their massive heads.  The old studies of skull size (with a small sample) put the sri-lanka leopards nearly on the same league than indian/savana african ones, but I don't believe it when we compare visually mature dominant males from all these areas. Impressive dominant male in Sri-lanka:  ______________________________ Edit: Awesome melanistic male from India (Pakke tiger reserve) 
Edited by ManEater, Apr 29 2016, 03:11 AM.
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| chui | May 8 2016, 06:03 AM Post #1289 |
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Heterotrophic Organism
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I agree ManEater. The Yala males definitely have impressive looking heads, I expect their skull measurements (and overall size) to be very impressive. I have little doubt a bigger sample for Sri Lankan leopards would reveal some huge skulls (total length over 270mm). Though not particularly clear, this photo epitomizes beautifully the side profile of a huge male leopard. Easily distinguishable from a female even from a distance. It's another Yala male of course. 
Edited by chui, May 8 2016, 06:07 AM.
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| Alexander Hamilton | May 13 2016, 03:49 AM Post #1290 |
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Unicellular Organism
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A great slow motion video of the Piva male from Londolozi,one of the biggest males in the Sabi Sands. "A close look at an adult male leopard's potential power as his shoulder and leg muscles ripple in the morning light; masculinity underneath beauty, raw torque under the polished hood." https://www.instagram.com/p/BFTa0b1BunG/?taken-by=seancrez |
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