Hello, I can't upload an image to my avatar. I try following the procedure indicated, very simple, and I tried to insert an external link, but doesn't change. Why?

I am trying to differentiate between puma and jaguar claws, both species are native to Bolivia and their parts subject to illegal trafficking. I is not easy to tell them appart when found without any skin that helps identification.  I am including pictures of claws in their paws (sold as souvenirs) from museum's specimens, which suggest they overlap in size between species but puma dew claw (finger I in front paws) is quite larger than the rest (photos 1 & 2). That does not seem to be the case for jaguars, where in the paws we have, dew claw is smaller (photos 3 & 4).  This agrees with pictures of a jaguar skeleton in post #1,838 ('Troncha' from Onçafari). However, I could not identify the species of clean claws seized to traffic (photos 5 - 7), and I wonder if you know  any morphometric description or rules that would help with tell them appart.  Thanks.

There was an off-topic discussion going on in this thread about whether or not the Mahabharata mentions lions and tigers in conflict.

Obligatory note: I'm not an expert on this topic whatsoever (so if I've gotten anything wrong, please do correct me!). :) I am, however, an  absolutely massive nerd who is both curious about languages and has a tendency to waste time researching obscure things that are of no real importance whatsoever, so I went looking to see if I could find whether this line in the English translation by Romesh Chunder Dutt:

"Peerless bowman! Mighty monarch! Nations still his hests obeyed,
As a lion slays a tiger, Bhima hath Duryodhan slayed"

was in the "original Sanskrit."It's important to note that there exist various written interpretations of the Mahabharata. The most complete version in the public domain is this version, which was translated by Kisari Mohan Ganguli. This is the source I used to find the corresponding Sanskrit line. I already knew that "siṃhá" meant "lion," so looking for lines with the root "simh-" narrowed down the search for me. I found it on line 17 of this page:

 17 एष दुर्यॊधनः शेते महेष्वासॊ महारथः

     शार्दूल इव सिंहेन भीमसेनेन पातितः

 17 eṣa duryodhanaḥ śete maheṣvāso mahārathaḥ
     śārdūla iva siṃhena bhīmasenena pātitaḥ

Unfortunately Google does not offer a translation service for Sanskrit, but I can get a very amateurish translation by looking up each word individually.

eṣa = this/that
duryodhanaḥ = Duryodhan
śete = sleeps/lies down
maheṣvāso = great archer
mahārathaḥ = great warrior/hero/chariot-warrior ("car warrior")
śārdūla = tiger (this word can apparently refer to either a lion - "siṃhá" - or a tiger - "vyāghraḥ" - but given the reference to a lion by "simh-" in the same line, it's more likely to mean tiger here. Fun fact: it's been theorised that the Sanskrit word for tiger mentioned above is where the name for the drug Viagra comes from!)
iva = like/as if
siṃhena = by a lion (simha is the root word meaning "lion," and the na appended to it turns it into the instrumental form. See this page for more info)
bhīmasenena = by Bhima
patitah = was thrown/has fallen down

So basically my translation would be:

"That great archer and hero Duryodhan lies there, like a tiger by a lion, cast down by Bhimasena."

The English translation offered by the same site is: "Alas, there that great bowman and mighty car-warrior sleeps, slain by Bhimasena, like a tiger slain by a lion!"

So, that poem above by Dutt is actually reasonably similar to this  (although of course with a lot of flourishes and poetic license to make it rhyme). It's worth noting of course that this isn't a literal description of a lion fighting a tiger; in context, it's being used as a poetic metaphor for one mighty character killing another. Both lions and tigers were frequently used as metaphors for great people (like the expression "a tiger amongst men"). The other example posted in that thread from the Ramayana ("Let not Rama in his rancour shed a younger brother's blood, As the lion slays the tiger in the deep and echoing wood!") is used in exactly the same way. Perhaps this is why Romila Thapar said that there was no mention of lions and tigers in combat in the Mahabharata and Ramayana? Another possibility is that Thapar may not consider the Ganguli version of the Mahabharata to be the definitive one; there is apparently a version called "the Critical Edition" by the Bhandakar Oriental Research Institute. Perhaps it differs, and does not contain this metaphor? It isn't in the public domain though, so I can't compare.

Anyway, that's enough from me lol.

A thread to discuss and post information on the rich Etymology of puma concolor.

For some time i have a question it goes through my head and i've thought about it a lot,  but i can't really say if there is some scientific evidence behind it or it's just my opinion and point of view. Everybody knows that big cats have been around for a lot of time by now and they evolved over millions of years into the species we are familiar today, Lions, Tigers, Jaguars and Leopards. These 4 species lived on earth in their actual form (i mean without major biological changes) for hundred thousands years (if i not mistaken, feel free to correct this info). I have the feeling these animals went through a shrinking process in size by the time but i cannot prove it and i didn't have direct scientific evidence in the form of peer reviewed articles. Take for example the Siberian Tiger, we can safely assume in the past the species roamed a much much bigger territory than today's patch in Primorsky Krai. With the same logic the species counted many more specimens (i don't really know their numbers lets say 1000 years ago, anybody knows something about it) and surely had access to many more prey items. Also in the recent past (100 years) their numbers plummeted so quickly that is possible some kind of embreeding process took place on a large% of the population. All these factors combined could have been the cause for a major size shrinking in siberian tigers? And if it is the case what sizes these cats reached lets say 2000 years ago? Or all siberian tigers from every millenia were plus minus equal in maximum size? This question of course is extended to Lions Leopards Jaguars of the past the tiger is only one example. Does anybody know something about this topic?

This thread concerns the conservation of jaguars and how said conservations impacts population and the change in population. I will start the thread with this wonderful study:
Estimating large carnivore populations at global scale based on spatial predictions of density and distribution – Application to the jaguar (Panthera onca) 

Abstract

Broad scale population estimates of declining species are desired for conservation efforts. However, for many secretive species including large carnivores, such estimates are often difficult. Based on published density estimates obtained through camera trapping, presence/absence data, and globally available predictive variables derived from satellite imagery, we modelled density and occurrence of a large carnivore, the jaguar, across the species’ entire range. We then combined these models in a hierarchical framework to estimate the total population. Our models indicate that potential jaguar density is best predicted by measures of primary productivity, with the highest densities in the most productive tropical habitats and a clear declining gradient with distance from the equator. Jaguar distribution, in contrast, is determined by the combined effects of human impacts and environmental factors: probability of jaguar occurrence increased with forest cover, mean temperature, and annual precipitation and declined with increases in human foot print index and human density. Probability of occurrence was also significantly higher for protected areas than outside of them. We estimated the world’s jaguar population at 173,000 (95% CI: 138,000–208,000) individuals, mostly concentrated in the Amazon Basin; elsewhere, populations tend to be small and fragmented. The high number of jaguars results from the large total area still occupied (almost 9 million km2) and low human densities (< 1 person/km2) coinciding with high primary productivity in the core area of jaguar range. Our results show the importance of protected areas for jaguar persistence. We conclude that combining modelling of density and distribution can reveal ecological patterns and processes at global scales, can provide robust estimates for use in species assessments, and can guide broad-scale conservation actions.


Important remark: "Our estimate of the total jaguar population, approximately 173,000 individuals (CI = 138,000–208,000), was greater than may be expected by many researchers."

So, I have something to share with you. A couple friends of mine decided to run a donation campaign in an innovative approach: by offering custom made NFT art of 5 extremely endangered animals. Depending on the type of sale, either 80% or 100% of it goes to a charity. The rest will go to support the artists behind the project. They've also prepared a cool video where they explain the details of the effort, check it out if you want. I'm curious, what is everyone's opinion on an event like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55k7Gc16zmM

Hello first of all @GuateGojira  @tigerluver 
I will ask you a few questions.

• Is it true that the Alaskan Tiger is Panthera Tigris Acutidens?
• How many mm is the largest skull of Panthera Tigris Acutidens (Wanhsien tiger)?
• What is the maximum weight of Panthera Tigris Acutidens? (from the largest skull)
  

I will be glad if you answer my questions.

On the request of @Tonpa, We have added Video Embed from Imgur site. Now you can embed video from Imgur website. Below we have detailed each step to do this.

The code to embed the video is




So basically you need to just copy the URL of video from imgur site and put inside them grvideo BBcode as shown above.

See the below Image to find the URL on Imgur website.




Why this useful?

If you have your own video which you don't want to upload on YouTube or Facebook (We already support video embedding from these platform), then Imgur is perfect site to upload your short video. We generally suggest it for short and quick video upload. So basically first you have to upload your video on Imgur and then embed it in your post on WildFact.

I've been trying to learn/write about animals with the most powerful/sensitive/whatever versions of various senses, and comparing them to humans.

Regarding the sense of smell, it seems elephants and bears are likely among the best out there, but I haven't been able to find a lot of concrete science on olfactory comparisons between different species (maybe I'm just bad at searching for it). There is some research on limited numbers of animals measuring things like the number of olfactory receptors they have, or their functional olfactory receptor genes, but I haven't been able to find much that actually demonstrates how well such numbers correlate with observed behavior (e.g., actually testing animals' ability to distinguish odors or follow very faint smells).

I'd love any help and insight you have into animals with the best and/or most interesting noses and senses of smell. Really, any cool anecdotes about animal noses in general would probably be very interesting to learn!