ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - B - THE LION (Panthera leo)

[GuateGojira]

(09-04-2018, 06:34 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: I have a question, are you sure that the figure of 120 cm in standing height cannot be reached by any lion, considering the limited populations of lions used in the study of Smuts et al. (https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wi....tb01433.x)? For Southern Africa in particular, Smuts et al. used samples from Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the Kalahari region (divided between Botswana, Namibia and South Africa) and Kruger National Park in South Africa, and I would like to mention that Botswanan lions in the Okavango Delta have a peculiar physique, in which the front part of the body is noticeably more prominent than the rear, or the front limbs are noticeably more prominent than the hind limbs, making them somewhat similar to hyenas and saber-toothed cats, and this has to do with their unusual lifestyle of swimming or going through water or swamps: 

Photo of an Okavango lion by Steve Jurvetson on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/6758587589/ 

In fact, if you check the graphics in the document of Smuts et al. (1980), those shoulder measurements were taken by Dr Smuts and his team in the Kruger Park, and he specifically says that is not the standing height. There is no height reported for any other places in that paper.

A new study using cameras and lasers, also in Kruger, shows no male lion over 110 cm in standing height. If we only check pictures is very easy to be impresed by the size of those lions, but even a lion/tiger of 90 cm looks huge! Reply