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Sanju · 01-29-2019, 03:37 PM

Massive and Huge male became victim to trophy Hunting

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Male african leopards average 60 kg (130 lb) with 100+ kg (201 lb) being the maximum weight attained by a male. Huge freaks can be seen in Srilanka’s Yala, Congo rain forest and Persian leopard.

*This image is copyright of its original author

According to a BBC article, the Sri Lankan leopard an endangered cat has evolved to become a rather large leopard subspecies with very large males reaching almost 220 lb (100 kg), due to the fact that it is an apex predator without competition by other large wild cat species in the country. The leopard is sympatric with the Sri Lankan Sloth Bear. On the island of Sri Lanka, leopards are the reigning top predator and, with no other big cat to compete with, they have become super-sized – the biggest leopards in the world besides Central African Congo leopards and Persian leopards.

*This image is copyright of its original author

“'Ivan' is reputedly the biggest leopard in the world (credit: BBC / Paul Williams)”

Elsewhere they are elusive predators, but here they have little to fear and can be seen proudly sauntering along the roads of Yala, the country’s most famous national park.Boasting the highest density of leopards anywhere in the world, Yala is also home to the biggest of them all. Weighing in at almost 100kg, Ivan the one-eyed leopard enjoys a notoriety in these parts. It wasn’t long before we detected the heat signature of a large male as it appeared from behind a bush. I was startled by how big it was. Leopards filmed elsewhere in the world, but this cat looked more like a Jaguar – a more muscular, powerful animal with larger jaws.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141013-...ds-of-yala

Jimmy · 01-29-2019, 05:57 PM

(01-29-2019, 03:37 PM)Sanju Wrote: According to a BBC article, the Sri Lankan leopard an endangered cat has evolved to become a rather large leopard subspecies with very large males reaching almost 220 lb (100 kg), due to the fact that it is an apex predator without competition by other large wild cat species in the country. The leopard is sympatric with the Sri Lankan Sloth Bear. On the island of Sri Lanka, leopards are the reigning top predator and, with no other big cat to compete with, they have become super-sized – the biggest leopards in the world besides Central African Congo leopards and Persian leopards.

*This image is copyright of its original author

“'Ivan' is reputedly the biggest leopard in the world (credit: BBC / Paul Williams)”

Elsewhere they are elusive predators, but here they have little to fear and can be seen proudly sauntering along the roads of Yala, the country’s most famous national park.Boasting the highest density of leopards anywhere in the world, Yala is also home to the biggest of them all. Weighing in at almost 100kg, Ivan the one-eyed leopard enjoys a notoriety in these parts. It wasn’t long before we detected the heat signature of a large male as it appeared from behind a bush. I was startled by how big it was. Leopards filmed elsewhere in the world, but this cat looked more like a Jaguar – a more muscular, powerful animal with larger jaws.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141013-...ds-of-yala

He seems to have much experience with leopard, however I truely have hard time seeing difference in proportion between leopards of mainland and those from Srilanka like he mentions more muscular, powerful animal with larger jaws, also by logic this seems slightly exaggerated (with great due respect to him) they don't normally hunt anything abnormal than leopards of mainland, if they hunted sambar, water buffaloes, wild boars more regularly or compete with mugger and break turtle shells like jags, it would have surely gone through some morphologically noticeable difference, unlike mainland leopards they dont have to bother about wild dogs or tiger prowling behind or displacing them if they killed something big, they could hunt their choice prey, stalk these at will if they want, it seems these are still not their choice prey, the leopards got big but the prey remains the same it seems -chital, only this time without the need to take the kill over the tree or under cover and possibly getting larger only cuz they can eat all they want and they dont need to shed extra weight to dash off swiftly onto trees. i don't see features that seem different, probably he should have casually referred to it's great size overall in absolute terms rather than going into details, cuz relatively they don't look different. Adult sambars still seems formidable adverseries.

Sanju · 01-29-2019, 06:41 PM

@Jimmy
In south India, Tigers mostly eat, Chital, Muntjac, Blackbuck and wild boar not always sambar, water buffaloes but they are pretty good sized tigers still. So, if they don't hunt big prey that doesn't mean they should be small. The article is of BBC.

It is because of absence of Competition for thousands of years in the island made their prey availability ample and some of them became Giants like Ivan. It can be due to Island gigantism in which the size of an animal isolated on an island increases dramatically in comparison to its mainland relatives. Island gigantism is one aspect of the more general "island effect" or "Foster's rule", which posits that when mainland animals colonize islands, small species tend to evolve larger bodies, and large species tend to evolve smaller bodies.

So this meso predator is the apex predator of that ecosystem niche.

*This image is copyright of its original author

The large Haast's eagle and moa from New Zealand (both extinct)

Jimmy · 01-29-2019, 08:00 PM

(01-29-2019, 06:41 PM)Sanju Wrote: @Jimmy
In south India, Tigers mostly eat, Chital, Muntjac, Blackbuck and wild boar not always sambar, water buffaloes but they are pretty good sized tigers still. So, if they don't hunt big prey that doesn't mean they should be small. The article is of BBC.

It is because of absence of Competition for thousands of years in the island made their prey availability ample and some of them became Giants like Ivan. It can be due to Island gigantism in which the size of an animal isolated on an island increases dramatically in comparison to its mainland relatives. Island gigantism is one aspect of the more general "island effect" or "Foster's rule", which posits that when mainland animals colonize islands, small species tend to evolve larger bodies, and large species tend to evolve smaller bodies.

So this meso predator is the apex predator of that ecosystem niche.

*This image is copyright of its original author
The large Haast's eagle and moa from New Zealand (both extinct)

Yeah that's what it is, like South Indian tigers are average bengal tigers let's say, Now you can clearly see with kaziranga tigers they are very robust and big headed, their proportions are somewhat different but with leopards of Srilanka and from mainland it is not so different overall, Srilanka ones are big yes I understand that, but he mentioned things like more muscular, larger jaws etc which i dont see. it is fine, it's not so much bothersome but I felt sometimes the reporter or photographers says things just for the sake of saying. For eg srolankan leopards might just be big and lanky or have the same relative proportions as mainland but larger overall, but I don't think they are noticebly with more bigger jaws and stuffs, they look very similar to a mainland one but of course bigger version. That is what I meant to say.

Thanks btw, I know about island dwarfism and stuffs but I was just pointing solely towards the BBC description of a srilankan leopard. Nothing serious just free thoughts on my part! ;

Sanju · 01-29-2019, 08:22 PM

(01-29-2019, 08:00 PM)Jimmy Wrote: Srilanka ones are big yes I understand that, but he mentioned things like more muscular, larger jaws etc which i don't see. it is fine, it's not so much bothersome but I felt sometimes the reporter or photographers says things just for the sake of saying. For eg sri lankan leopards might just be big and lanky or have the same relative proportions as mainland but larger overall, but I don't think they are noticeably with more bigger jaws and stuffs, they look very similar to a mainland one but of course bigger version. That is what I meant to say.

Thanks btw, I know about island dwarfism and stuffs but I was just pointing solely towards the BBC description of a srilankan leopard. Nothing serious just free thoughts on my part! ;

Agreed.

Quote: Nocturnal predator
Using a specially adapted vehicle with infrared technology, and wearing night vision goggles, we ventured into the park at night. Leopards prefer to hunt under the cover of darkness, using their incredible hearing and night vision that is seven times more powerful than a human’s.
It wasn’t long before we detected the heat signature of a large male as it appeared from behind a bush. I was startled by how big it was. I’ve filmed leopards elsewhere in the world, but this cat looked more like a jaguar – a more muscular, powerful animal with larger jaws.

*This image is copyright of its original author

A leopard seen with infrared technology at night (credit: BBC / Paul Williams)
We were quietly filming more than 50 meters away, but the leopard turned and looked straight in our direction. He slowly started to approach.
We were in an open-backed vehicle so we could get a clear view of the action. Little did we know at the time, but the tiny monitors that we were using to film leaked enough light to catch the leopard’s attention.

*This image is copyright of its original author

"We were never in any serious harm from the leopards..." (credit: BBC / Paul Williams)
He could clearly see us and it wasn’t long before he was well within leaping distance, less than five metres away. We couldn’t see him in the darkness, but we knew how close he was when Nick started to point the infrared camera down.
Quick reactions
Luckily we had an umbrella to hand. Nick flashed it open to startle the leopard, which retreated into the shadows.
It was an intimidating introduction to the leopards of Yala, but I don’t think we were ever in serious danger. The leopard was probably surprised to see humans in the park at night, especially when they were brightly illuminated, and simply decided to take a closer look.

The crew took a lesson from the encounter (credit: BBC / Paul Williams)
But we certainly took a lesson from the encounter, and the next day we provided more protection around the sides of the vehicle.
The crew’s close encounter will be shown at the end of episode four: The Drought, Wonders of The Monsoon.
Watch Wonders of the Monsoon on Sunday at 20:00hrs on BBC Two, or catch up on BBC iPlayer.

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141013-...ds-of-yala

See the video here: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141013-encounters-with-the-giant-leopards-of-yala

Quote:@Jimmy

Srilanka ones are big yes I understand that, but he mentioned things like more muscular, larger jaws etc which i don't see. it is fine, it's not so much bothersome but I felt sometimes the reporter or photographers says things just for the sake of saying. For eg sri lankan leopards might just be big and lanky or have the same relative proportions as mainland but larger overall, but I don't think they are noticeably with more bigger jaws and stuffs, they look very similar to a mainland one but of course bigger version. That is what I meant to say.

I think its slightly exaggerated and I agree with you about it but I felt they are "somewhat" muscular with bigger jaw muscles not as much as small female jaguar... See... ^watch the video in the above link

*This image is copyright of its original author

Jimmy · 01-29-2019, 09:29 PM

did not know there was a video too, it's a big male leopard, yet some leopards in Indian leopard (panthra pardus fusca) thread are just as impressive, still I'm not that convinced about the details given, maybe he could have just said a big leopard almost like a jaguar instead of being meticulous, I don't see anything particular that mainland leopard lacks except that panthea pardus kotiya are no doubt bigger animals and thats that. Anyway tfs, informations and readings are great though!

Pckts · 01-30-2019, 02:10 AM

(01-29-2019, 05:57 PM)Jimmy Wrote:
(01-29-2019, 03:37 PM)Sanju Wrote: According to a BBC article, the Sri Lankan leopard an endangered cat has evolved to become a rather large leopard subspecies with very large males reaching almost 220 lb (100 kg), due to the fact that it is an apex predator without competition by other large wild cat species in the country. The leopard is sympatric with the Sri Lankan Sloth Bear. On the island of Sri Lanka, leopards are the reigning top predator and, with no other big cat to compete with, they have become super-sized – the biggest leopards in the world besides Central African Congo leopards and Persian leopards.

*This image is copyright of its original author

“'Ivan' is reputedly the biggest leopard in the world (credit: BBC / Paul Williams)”

Elsewhere they are elusive predators, but here they have little to fear and can be seen proudly sauntering along the roads of Yala, the country’s most famous national park.Boasting the highest density of leopards anywhere in the world, Yala is also home to the biggest of them all. Weighing in at almost 100kg, Ivan the one-eyed leopard enjoys a notoriety in these parts. It wasn’t long before we detected the heat signature of a large male as it appeared from behind a bush. I was startled by how big it was. Leopards filmed elsewhere in the world, but this cat looked more like a Jaguar – a more muscular, powerful animal with larger jaws.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141013-...ds-of-yala
He seems to have much experience with leopard, however I truely have hard time seeing difference in proportion between leopards of mainland and those from Srilanka like he mentions more muscular, powerful animal with larger jaws, also by logic this seems slightly exaggerated (with great due respect to him) they don't normally hunt anything abnormal than leopards of mainland, if they hunted sambar, water buffaloes, wild boars more regularly or compete with mugger and break turtle shells like jags, it would have surely gone through some morphologically noticeable difference, unlike mainland leopards they dont have to bother about wild dogs or tiger prowling behind or displacing them if they killed something big, they could hunt their choice prey, stalk these at will if they want, it seems these are still not their choice prey, the leopards got big but the prey remains the same it seems -chital, only this time without the need to take the kill over the tree or under cover and possibly getting larger only cuz they can eat all they want and they dont need to shed extra weight to dash off swiftly onto trees. i don't see features that seem different, probably he should have casually referred to it's great size overall in absolute terms rather than going into details, cuz relatively they don't look different. Adult sambars still seems formidable adverseries.

Shaji Mohammed https://www.facebook.com/shajimohammed.kb
Told me that Sri Lanken Leopards are smaller than their African Counterparts and similar in size to their Indian cousins.

I can only speak on one wild Male Indian Leopard and a few captive ones I've seen compared to the One wild African Leopard and the many captive ones I've seen and you can definitely tell that African ones are more dense, especially in the neck and head region.
African Leopards just look like the bigger cat to me.

Jimmy · 01-30-2019, 08:43 AM

(01-30-2019, 02:10 AM)Pckts Wrote:
(01-29-2019, 05:57 PM)Jimmy Wrote:
(01-29-2019, 03:37 PM)Sanju Wrote: According to a BBC article, the Sri Lankan leopard an endangered cat has evolved to become a rather large leopard subspecies with very large males reaching almost 220 lb (100 kg), due to the fact that it is an apex predator without competition by other large wild cat species in the country. The leopard is sympatric with the Sri Lankan Sloth Bear. On the island of Sri Lanka, leopards are the reigning top predator and, with no other big cat to compete with, they have become super-sized – the biggest leopards in the world besides Central African Congo leopards and Persian leopards.

*This image is copyright of its original author

“'Ivan' is reputedly the biggest leopard in the world (credit: BBC / Paul Williams)”

Elsewhere they are elusive predators, but here they have little to fear and can be seen proudly sauntering along the roads of Yala, the country’s most famous national park.Boasting the highest density of leopards anywhere in the world, Yala is also home to the biggest of them all. Weighing in at almost 100kg, Ivan the one-eyed leopard enjoys a notoriety in these parts. It wasn’t long before we detected the heat signature of a large male as it appeared from behind a bush. I was startled by how big it was. Leopards filmed elsewhere in the world, but this cat looked more like a Jaguar – a more muscular, powerful animal with larger jaws.
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141013-...ds-of-yala
He seems to have much experience with leopard, however I truely have hard time seeing difference in proportion between leopards of mainland and those from Srilanka like he mentions more muscular, powerful animal with larger jaws, also by logic this seems slightly exaggerated (with great due respect to him) they don't normally hunt anything abnormal than leopards of mainland, if they hunted sambar, water buffaloes, wild boars more regularly or compete with mugger and break turtle shells like jags, it would have surely gone through some morphologically noticeable difference, unlike mainland leopards they dont have to bother about wild dogs or tiger prowling behind or displacing them if they killed something big, they could hunt their choice prey, stalk these at will if they want, it seems these are still not their choice prey, the leopards got big but the prey remains the same it seems -chital, only this time without the need to take the kill over the tree or under cover and possibly getting larger only cuz they can eat all they want and they dont need to shed extra weight to dash off swiftly onto trees. i don't see features that seem different, probably he should have casually referred to it's great size overall in absolute terms rather than going into details, cuz relatively they don't look different. Adult sambars still seems formidable adverseries.

Shaji Mohammed https://www.facebook.com/shajimohammed.kb
Told me that Sri Lanken Leopards are smaller than their African Counterparts and similar in size to their Indian cousins.

I can only speak on one wild Male Indian Leopard and a few captive ones I've seen compared to the One wild African Leopard and the many captive ones I've seen and you can definitely tell that African ones are more dense, especially in the neck and head region.
African Leopards just look like the bigger cat to me.

that's some insightful information.In Asia, there is undeniable 'bear' factor, all types of bear which makes hauling and stashing kills for later consumption worthless, they will eventually be smelled out and overtaken. Asian leopards are more generalist cat and are designed that way, it seems.
Also @Pckts how farfetched do you think that ivan the one eyed leopard being claimed the world's largest leopard, 100 kilos leopard is no joke, i find that super impressive almost a jaguar like specimen, i can see at least the Persian leopards challenging the claim.

Sanju · 01-30-2019, 09:36 AM

(01-30-2019, 08:43 AM)Jimmy Wrote: In Asia, there is undeniable 'bear' factor, all types of bear which makes hauling and stashing kills for later consumption worthless, they will eventually be smelled out and overtaken. Asian leopards are more generalist cat and are designed that way, it seems.

and bears can climb trees to steal kills tooo! So no where of hiding carcass...

Sanju · 01-30-2019, 10:16 AM

Jimmy · 01-30-2019, 11:22 AM

@Sanju that's the point, leopards sharing territory with bears in Asia may target prey that they can consume quickly. While African leopards are hard wired to take their kill off onto a tree, by logic it seems they are more specialized in neck/ shoulder department to habitually perform this feat. Srilankan sloth bears and sun bears are relatively small ones compared to their brethren elsewhere!

Pckts · 01-30-2019, 04:12 PM

@Jimmy
It'd be awesome if true but I'm sure if we dig deeper we'd find out the claim is an estimate.

BorneanTiger · 02-13-2019, 10:34 PM

For the first time in over 100 years, an African black panther has been spotted, in Kenya:

Sanju · 02-15-2019, 06:46 PM

Zanzibar Leopard still extant not extinct.

What has this camera crew in shock? They just captured video of an animal thought to be extinct! The animal in question was a Zanzibar leopard. Wildlife adventurer Forrest Galante had set out in search of the leopard in the jungles of Zanzibar. Locals believed the Zanzibar leopards were sent by witches or people with the intent to hurt them, leading the species to being hunted into oblivion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanzibar_leopard

*This image is copyright of its original author

The Zanzibar Leopard (Panthera pardus adersi/pardus) in the Zanzibar Natural History Museum in Zanzibar City (or Zanzibar Town), Zanzibar (Tanzania).

Sanju · 02-16-2019, 02:03 PM

Leopard snags a baby warthog, gets rammed by the mother and escapes by climbing up a tree.

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