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ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - D - THE LEOPARD (Panthera pardus)
ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - D - THE LEOPARD (Panthera pardus)
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ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - D - THE LEOPARD (Panthera pardus)
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 (05-16-2019, 01:04 PM)Luipaard Wrote:(05-16-2019, 12:58 PM)Lycaon Wrote: @ Few people do give them attention, it seems: By the way, check out what I posted about Caucasian or Persian leopards in European Russia: https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-european-felids
Forward from (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-arabian...7#pid82037), the UAE Emirate of Sharjah has another wildlife center dedicated for Arabian animals, especially the leopard, that's the Arabian Wildlife Center, or "Arabia's Wildlife Center": https://www.alshindagah.com/may2001/7.html
 *This image is copyright of its original author https://universes.art/art-destinations/s...center/23/  *This image is copyright of its original author This centre had a sister facility that's now closed to the public, the Breeding Centre for Endangered Arabian Wildlife (https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Arab..._277011088), which was replaced by Al Hefaiyah Mountain Conservation Centre near Kalba (http://www.sharjahupdate.com/2016/03/sha...-tourists/), which I mentioned above. Back in 2001, the Breeding Centre had assisted the Yemeni zoos of Sana'a and Ta'izz, themselves meant for breeding or conserving local fauna such as the leopard, with taking care of their animals (http://www.wmenews.com/Information/Other...-69pdf.pdf). The old Breeding Centre: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Arab..._277011088  *This image is copyright of its original author
(05-16-2019, 10:37 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote:(05-16-2019, 01:04 PM)Luipaard Wrote:(05-16-2019, 12:58 PM)Lycaon Wrote: @ Forward from (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-europea...7#pid82057), note that the Caucasus is to the east of the Black Sea, and that Anatolia is to the south of the sea. West of the sea lie the Balkans, including Greece: https://profwaqarhussain.blogspot.com/20...k-sea.html  *This image is copyright of its original author http://davidsbeenhere.com/2015/01/02/languages-balkans/  *This image is copyright of its original author And it appears from the work of Homer that the leopard occurred in Greece, like the lion, lynx and bear: https://www.researchgate.net/publication...cal_record The twist is this, the Asiatic lion, which currently survives in India, and used to inhabit Anatolia and the Caucasus (https://archive.org/stream/mammalsofsov2...0/mode/2up), and is believed to be the same race as the Greek or European lion (https://books.google.com/books?id=TX7BmP...&q&f=false, https://books.google.com/books?id=GWslAA...on&f=false). If the European lion that occurred to the west of the Black Sea is the same race as the Asiatic lion, which occurred to the south and west of the sea, then is the Greek or European leopard, which occurred to the west of the sea, the same race as the Anatolian or Caucasian leopard (bearing in mind that both have been grouped as Panthera pardus tulliana, Pages 73–75: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/hand...sAllowed=y)? 
BORNEAN TIGER
You're on of the few who uses his own words to write posts. On top of that, nearly all posts have good info. Be sure it's much appreciated. The disadvantage of writing your own posts is it often results typos, errors and the occasional slip of the tongue. This the reason I often have to edit long posts (referring to typos in particular). I thought I saw a typo in your interesting last post, but I could be wrong here. I'm referring to your remark on the Caucasus located west of the Black Sea. You of course mean to the west of the Caspian. One question regarding Arabian leopards. Is the population completely isolated? Any research being conducted at the moment? (05-22-2019, 07:21 PM)peter Wrote: BORNEAN TIGER Actually, there is more than one population of Arabian leopards. Ignoring the possibly extinct population of the Hajar Mountains of eastern UAE and northern Oman (http://www.catsg.org/fileadmin/fileshari...irates.pdf), there is a population at the Dhofar Mountains of southern Oman (https://www.earthtouchnews.com/conservat...in-danger/), which are contiguous with the Hadhramaut Mountains of eastern Yemen, which are in turn contiguous with the Sarawat or Sarat Mountains of western Yemen and KSA (Saudi Arabia). The Sarawat stretch from southwest Yemen to northwest KSA on the border of the southern Levant (which has leopards: http://www.yemenileopard.org/files/cms/r...eopard.pdf), and are the longest and highest of the Arabian ranges, further divisible into the Haraz (southwest Yemen), Asir (southwestern KSA), and Hijaz (western KSA) subranges, with the Hijazi subrange having a subrange of its own, the Midian Mountains on the border of northwestern KSA and the southern Levant. Judging from the work of the Cat Specialist Group (http://www.yemenileopard.org/files/cms/r...eopard.pdf), it seems that different populations are isolated from each other, but this would be based on confirmed sightings, and the only population which would have been likely isolated from others, historically, would have been at the Hajar Mountains, since this range is separated from other ranges of the peninsula, which form a chain extending from southern Oman and Yemen to northwestern KSA on the border with the southern Levant: The Arabian Leopards of Oman by Andrew Spalton and Hadi Al Hikmani, illustrated by Vicky White: https://www.earthtouchnews.com/conservat...puts-arabi  *This image is copyright of its original author
(05-16-2019, 10:37 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote:(05-16-2019, 01:04 PM)Luipaard Wrote:(05-16-2019, 12:58 PM)Lycaon Wrote: @ Forward from (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-leopard...9#pid82539, https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-african...0#pid82540), according to Sir Alfred Edward Pease, a British hunter in Africa who wrote the "Book of the lion" (https://archive.org/stream/bookoflion191...6/mode/2up), in the Atlas region of North Africa, the black panther, as in a melanistic version of the Barbary leopard, was a more ferocious and feared man-eater than the Barbary lion:  *This image is copyright of its original author
(05-22-2019, 11:19 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote:(05-22-2019, 07:21 PM)peter Wrote: BORNEAN TIGER Forward from (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-african...2#pid83142), you may notice from the map above that the Sinai Peninsula, in the Asian part of what is now Egypt, is treated as being part of the former range of the Arabian subspecies. Actually, that peninsula had a subspecies or population of its own, the Sinai leopard (Panthera pardus jarvisi), which was proposed by the British zoologist Reginald Innes Pocock in 1932 (https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wi....tb01085.x), based on a skin from the Peninsula, a land-bridge between mainland Egypt (where an African leopard would have been spotted in Elba Protected Area in the southeast in 2014: https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/mamm.20...5-0089.xml) to the west and the Arabian Peninsula and Levant (where the Arabian leopard would be present: https://www.earthtouchnews.com/conservat...in-danger/) to the east, which is treated as part of Asia, thus rendering Egypt a transcontinental country like Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan: https://sciencetrends.com/what-continent...cially-in/ https://www.britannica.com/place/Sinai-Peninsula  *This image is copyright of its original author Stuffed Sinai leopard at the Zoological Museum of Giza Zoological Museum, Egypt: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:...Museum.jpg  *This image is copyright of its original author Exactly whether or not the Sinai leopard is a subspecies, or part of a subspecies, is a matter of controversy. Due to a lack of tissue samples, in 1996, Miththapala et al. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/...10041115.x) subsumed it to the Caucasian or Persian subspecies (Panthera pardus ciscaucasia syn. Panthera pardus saxicolor, now Panthera pardus tulliana according to the Cat Specialist Group, 2017, pages 73–75: https://repository.si.edu/bitstream/hand...sAllowed=y), and then in 2001, Uphyrkina et al. (http://www.biosoil.ru/files/00001386.pdf) subsumed it to the Arabian subspecies (Panthera pardus nimr). As I mentioned here (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-on-the-...2#pid68902), the CSG also said that the Sinai and Arabian leopards could be the same subspecies as African leopards (Panthera pardus pardus), and all other leopards in Asia and European Russia (which has Caucasian leopards (Panthera pardus ciscausia / tulliana)), including the Sri Lankan leopard (Panthera parsus kotiya), could be one subspecies (Panthera pardus fusca), with the exception of the Javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas). (05-14-2019, 11:00 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: Forward from (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-arabian...3#pid81763), MBS wants to bring the leopard, besides other wildlife, back to Al-Ula, an archaeological site in the mountainous region of the Hejaz, north of Medina in western Saudi Arabia: Forward from (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-arabian...0#pid89070), in a boost to Saudi Arabia's bid to save the Arabian leopard, 2 cubs have been born at Prince Saud Al-Faisal Wildlife Research Center in Ta'if, located east of Mecca in the mountainous region of the Hijaz, which is part of the west Arabian mountainous region of the Sarawat, where the leopard would naturally occur: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1533636/saudi-arabia, http://www.yemenileopard.org/files/cms/r...eopard.pdf Arab News:  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author "AL-ULA: The birth of two Arabian leopard cubs has been hailed as a “new beacon of hope” in Saudia Arabia’s bid to reintroduce the critically endangered big cat back into the wild. The Saudi Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) revealed that the male and female cubs, born on April 26 at the Prince Saud Al-Faisal Wildlife Research Center in Taif, had now been vaccinated after passing a crucial 12-week developmental milestone. The news marks a significant step in the RCU’s breeding program to help preserve and eventually reintroduce the subspecies into the north-west of the Kingdom as part of its portfolio of Arabian Leopard Initiatives (ALI). The commission’s charter aims to deliver a sensitive and responsible transformation of the AlUla region and protect its nature and wildlife. During the initial 12-week period of the newborn leopards’ lives, they successfully bonded with their 10-year-old mother Hamms (which means “whisper” in Arabic), learned important behaviors and grew stronger in the seclusion of their den. The cubs will remain with their mother for the next 18 months to two years in line with global best practice for captive breeding programs. Saudi Minister of Culture and RCU Gov. Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al-Saud, said: “This is a historic moment in our efforts to reintroduce the Arabian leopard to the AlUla region. “With fewer than an estimated 200 Arabian leopards remaining in the wild globally, this is one of the most critically endangered animals in the world, and these cubs represent a new beacon of hope for the renewal of a subspecies on the brink of extinction. It is our duty to protect, conserve and build population numbers to preserve the species from becoming a footnote of history. “That is why the RCU is actively championing the revitalization of the Arabian leopard to support the future of this rare and majestic big cat that is native to AlUla,” the prince added. “The birth of these two cubs will be the first of many as our specialized captive breeding program grows and develops – boosted by the support of local experts, as well as global partners like Panthera.” The commission’s ALI combines several projects working toward the preservation of the subspecies including an extensive captive breeding and reintroduction program, and the establishment of the Global Fund for the Arabian Leopard. As a center of excellence, the RCU is establishing a steering committee with leading experts from around the world to enhance and inform ALI’s captive breeding, husbandry, veterinary and reintroduction practices in the existing breeding facility located in Taif. The committee will also help guide the design of a state-of-the-art breeding center to be constructed in AlUla county and consult on habitat revitalization projects in the Sharaan Nature Reserve. It was announced in February that the newly created Global Fund for the Arabian Leopard will have an initial endowment of $25 million (SR94 million), making it the largest fund in the world wholly dedicated to safeguarding the Arabian leopard. Currently in the strategic planning and operational set-up phase, the fund will be fully mobilized by the end of this year. The news of the leopard cubs’ birth follows the signing in June of a partnership agreement between the RCU governor and Dr. Thomas Kaplan, chairman of the global wild cat conservation organization Panthera. Saudi Arabia, through this partnership, has in turn joined the Global Alliance for Wild Cats, making a commitment to invest $20 million over the next 10 years."
When talking about that picture of an unusually obese Indian leopard here (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-indian-...8#pid89338), I noticed something interesting. The Romanian source Descoperă (https://www.descopera.ro/dnews/7760878-l...l-in-india) says that this is a captive Indian leopard known as 'Balaji' which was housed at Sri Venkateshwara Zoo in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, and weighed 139 kg (306 lbs), and after searching for more information, I noticed that Descoperă wasn't the only source on Balaji. In fact, Descoperă got its information from The Hindu, an Indian newspaper, and The Hindu said the same thing, that there was an obese leopard weighing 139 kg (306 lbs) at Tirupati's Sri Venkateshwara Zoo known as 'Balaji', which died on the 11th of June, 2013: https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp...s_ss=email, https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp...805518.ece
The Times of India and Deccan Chronicle gave another astonishing weight for this leopard, that is 143 kg (315 lbs)! https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...548422.cms, https://www.pressreader.com/india/deccan...5238088126  *This image is copyright of its original author
Actually, if I remember correctly, he was a wild leopard and weighed over 100 kilos when he was captured. I know this because at the same time, a few leopards were grabbing children and doing leopard things where I lived in Southern India which locals were mad about in our rapidly industrialising area and shrinking leopard habitat. So, the two stories kind of came at the same time.
He was a wild leopard allegedly but a few things don't add up.
The dates of his capture "Balaji, an Indian leopard housed in the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park, located at the foot of the holy seven hills in Tirupathi, was one of the largest leopards to be ever recorded. The leopard weighed 139 kg against the normal weight of 70 kg of its class. Balaji was born in 1994 and captured in 1996, when he weighed 108 kg. He ate 4 kg of beef daily, the same as the zoo's other leopards. The Park management is said to be in touch with the Guinness Book of World Records authorities seeking its entry in the records as the biggest leopard.[1][2] He died on June 11, 2013.[3]" References
Compared to "It was in February 1998 that the leopard sneaked into the zoo premises from the abutting Tirumala forest, when it was caught in a cage and named as ‘Balaji’. " Also, from the looks of the Cat, it's obviously not an unusually big Leopard  *This image is copyright of its original author Also the actual reason for it's capture and circumstances behind it? Like what was the actual reason for it's capture, they said they caged it in the Zoological park, so why? Note that Guinness has never acknowledged this weight nor have I seen it acknowledged in any scientific paper. I have major doubts this was anything other than a headline grab or Balaji was probably being fed the entire time prior to his capture and thus he was obese. (08-08-2019, 01:25 AM)Pckts Wrote: He was a wild leopard allegedly but a few things don't add up. If I remember right, they mention that Guinness issue years before Balaji died. That alone makes information about weight of it very questionable. If they would have had really biggest leopard ever, it would have been quite easy to get it checked for Guinness Book of World Records. But in photo there is so obese leopard, that sad to see, whatever is real weight. 
POCOCK ON MR. LIMOUZIN'S SKULL
Almost a century ago, a Mr. Limouzin shot a very large leopard in India. At least, he thought it was a leopard. Same for Mr. Prater, a big cat authority who saw the skull. As a result of the unusual size and the doubts expressed by some, the skull was discussed in the JBNHS. Poster 'Luipaard' recently posted a part of the discussion in the thread 'Size Comparisons'. When I said the skull belonged to a tiger, he wanted to see proof. The reason was he got the informaton on Mr. Limouzin's specimen from an authority who had published on the skull. I posted a paragraph of Pocock's letter to the JBNHS and promised I would scan and post his letter. Here it is. As not all of us have the time to read his letter, I'll do a summary. When the skull of the big cat shot by Mr. Limouzin had been found, Mr. Prater published a photograph of the side view (profile) of the skull together with photographs of an Indian leopard, a tiger and a lion. Pocock saw the photograph and quickly concluded the skull belonged to a tiger. This decision was not accepted by Mr. Limouzin and Mr. Prater. Pocock offered to examine the skull. Mr. Limouzin accepted the offer and brought the skull to the Natural History Museum in October 1929, when he returned to England. Pocock had it for a week and again concluded it was the skull of a tiger. Or, to be more precise, the skull of a young adult tigress. Adult in the sense of being sexually mature, but youngish in that the sutures hadn't quite closed. Pocock didn't doubt that age would have added a bit of length and, in particular, width. In December 1929, he sent a letter to the JBNHS. It has two plates (at the end):  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author  *This image is copyright of its original author Here's the two plates:  *This image is copyright of its original author I'll do another post on the skull of Mr. Limouzin in the tiger thread. That post will have a bit more on tiger and leopard skulls, including photographs and, when I finished them, a few tables. Most 'authorities' agree it isn't easy to distinguish between lion and tiger skulls. They also say big cat skulls are quite similar in many respects. I measured close to 400 and concluded the differences between species are both pronounced and consistent. There's some overlap, especially in skulls of big cats born and bred in captivity, but in skulls of wild big cats the differences often are seen at a glance. I'll try to get to an overview in the post in the tiger thread. |
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