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Modern Weights and Measurements of Leopards
Modern Weights and Measurements of Leopards
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Modern Weights and Measurements of Leopards
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"A big male leopard shot in the Aberdare mountains of Kenya in 1968. The photo is from the book, "Shoot Straight and Stay Alive" by professional hunter Fred Bartlett. The skull of this leopard is listed in the Rowland Ward Records, measuring 273mm long and 178mm wide (17.75 inch total score). Bartlett said this was one of the biggest leopards he had seen in the mountain forests of Kenya with a heavily built body, he estimated its weight at 200 to 220lbs. Bartlett appears to be a reliable source and this was probably a genuine 180lb+ leopard. Any leopard with a skull measuring 17 inches or more should be considered huge.
As mentioned before, the leopards of the Rift Valley highland forests in East Africa were highly prized by trophy hunters. Of the leopard populations for which some appreciable data on weights has historically been recorded (ie. East/Southern Africa and India) these East African mountain leopards are IMO the most impressive. Apart from Iran where a few 200lb leopards have now been recorded most genuine 200lbers recorded historically have come from the highland forests of East Africa. The heaviest being a 212lb leopard with a 18.76 inch skull shot on Mt Kenya in 1964 which is probably the heaviest leopard reliably recorded in my opinion. PH Hamilton who carried out much research on leopards in Kenya gives a weight range for male highland forest leopards in the country as 60-95kg, the upper limit probably being derived from this specimen."  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author
 (01-18-2020, 03:02 AM)Pckts Wrote: "A big male leopard shot in the Aberdare mountains of Kenya in 1968. The photo is from the book, "Shoot Straight and Stay Alive" by professional hunter Fred Bartlett. The skull of this leopard is listed in the Rowland Ward Records, measuring 273mm long and 178mm wide (17.75 inch total score). Bartlett said this was one of the biggest leopards he had seen in the mountain forests of Kenya with a heavily built body, he estimated its weight at 200 to 220lbs. Bartlett appears to be a reliable source and this was probably a genuine 180lb+ leopard. Any leopard with a skull measuring 17 inches or more should be considered huge. Can you please provide the source of that record? I want to save it for future reference. I found the document of Hamilton (1981) and in fact he quote that range, but the leopards that he captured in other region were smaller, he went to say that the leopards of the highlands of Kenya are the largest:  *This image is copyright of its original author
I just found it on the big game FB page, but I'd like to get that book.
I'm not sure where the person got that info from, I just posted the total excerpt a long with the leopard skull size. But it looks like it was probably written by a trophy hunting guide named Adrian Van Heerdan (01-19-2020, 01:20 AM)Pckts Wrote: I just found it on the big game FB page, but I'd like to get that book. I found the book, is this according with that same FB page:  *This image is copyright of its original author I checked in "Google books" but I only have a limited view and according with my search it do not found any figure of "212 lb" or "two hundred and twelve pounds" or any other combination in the book. Maybe someone with a clear view of the book can check it and found it.
Yes, that's the one.
I'll probably order it this week and give it a read. But I think the 2nd part was written by someone else, possibly the hunting guide. The first paragraph is in regards to the book I believe. 
@Pckts & @GuateGojira, the whole thing was written by @chui_ !
 *This image is copyright of its original author Not sure how this FB page managed to copy this though, since it's from an old forum archive. (01-22-2020, 01:02 AM)Luipaard Wrote: @Pckts & @GuateGojira, the whole thing was written by @chui_ !Thanks, you also reminded me to order this. It's on the way, I'll update you guys when I get through it.
Capture date, sex, number of GPS locations, morphological measurements and status of six Persian leopards collared in Tandoureh NP, North Khorasan, Iran
 *This image is copyright of its original author Male 'M2' being collared:  *This image is copyright of its original author Male 'M2' with a female:  *This image is copyright of its original author Source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315829676_GPS_collars_reveal_trans-boundary_movements_by_Persian_leopards_in_Iran  (01-27-2020, 12:54 PM)Luipaard Wrote: Capture date, sex, number of GPS locations, morphological measurements and status of six Persian leopards collared in Tandoureh NP, North Khorasan, Iran@ Thanks for sharing valuable information with the forum
Weights of 5 leopards in Zambia:
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author "All the collared leopards were weighed and showed as in other studies and observations a sexual dimorphism (♀: 30-33 kg; ♂: 48 -58 kg). Comments of several trophy hunters implied that the leopards of the Luangwa Valley are in general of small size and definitely much smaller than those occurring for example inside the Kafue National Park region in the west of Zambia. Further, I was told that although the collared male leopards would be very good trophies for this area, many leopards were shot during hunting safaris in the surrounding GMA’s that have been much heavier at about 70-80 kg. These, however, are weights based on visual observations and estimates, and not by weighing those hunted individuals. Weights of leopards seem to be very variable across their range. Other studies and observations report about males that weighed for example 35.5 kg (SCHALLER 1972) or 44.1 kg in India (SCHALLER 1972). PIENAAR (1969) reported that leopards in the Kruger Park seldom exceeded 59.1 kg and BAILEY (2005) accounts in the early 1970s weights averaged 63 kg from 5 male leopards and 37.2 kg from 6 female leopards inside Kruger Park. 63 kg as an average weight for males was also reported in Kenya (MEINERTZHAGEN 1938). In Zambia the heaviest male weighed by ROBINETTE (1963) was about 56 kg and by WILSON (1968) about 59.9 kg. The latter noted an average weight of 33.6 kg from six females. My sample size is possibly too small to give reliable statements, but the recorded weights in my study do not differ much from these previous reports from Zambia. The collared male leopards appeared due to visual observations huge and heavy and were sometimes also mistaken at night with lionesses. M1 was visual estimated at first to be 70 kg, before it was weighed. The fur also made them appear much bigger as they really were. According to these experiences I assume that professional hunters were probably also mistaken by just visual estimating the leopards’ weights. The theory about huge differences in size between leopards of the Luangwa Valley and those of the Kafue region is lacking scientific data to support it. They could be of interest for further studies to determine actual weights. Interviews with Zambian hunters indicated that massive leopards estimated between 70 – 90 kg were shot in the hilly regions of the valley. STEVENSON-HAMILTON (1947) also described two leopard types inside the Kruger National Park region: a small leopard occurring in the hot lowlands and a larger leopard living in the hilly, high country." Source: 'Ecology and population status and the impact of trophy hunting of the leopard Panthera pardus (LINNAEUS, 1758) in the Luambe National Park and surrounding Game Management Areas in Zambia'
Morphological measurements of three captured leopards in the Mangwe area, Zimbabwe
 *This image is copyright of its original author Weights of leopards from this study and other African studies:  *This image is copyright of its original author Source: LEOPARD POPULATION DENSITY, HOME RANGE SIZE AND MOVEMENT PATTERNS IN A MIXED LANDUSE AREA OF THE MANGWE DISTRICT OF ZIMBABWE
Measurements of male and female leopards in Karongwe Game Reserve, South Africa
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Source: HABITAT QUALITY EFFECTS ON THE ECOLOGY OF LEOPARD ON A SMALL ENCLOSED RESERVE
Weights of leopards in Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh, India
 *This image is copyright of its original author Source: Adaptable Neighbours: Movement Patterns of GPS-Collared Leopards in Human Dominated Landscapes in India
Weights of 5 African leopards in the Mpala Research Centre, Kenya
 *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Source: Energetics-informed behavioral states reveal the drive to kill in African leopards
Weights of leopards in the Khomas Hochland, Namibia
"The average weight of the three adult females was 36 kg with the largest at 44 kg and pregnant" (Only one adult male, 63 kg).  *This image is copyright of its original author Source: Studying leopards (Panthera pardus) on a game farm in the Khomas Hochland, Namibia |
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