Modern Weights and Measurements of Jaguars

[Dark Jaguar]

(09-07-2020, 04:12 AM)Balam Wrote: I was doing some research on tiger killing of gaur, I decided it made sense to make one last post concerning stomach content following my email exchange with Hoogesteijn. This will hopefully help us get a better idea of what to look for when deciding if an animal is gorged or not when captured and pictures of said captures are available.

Here is a picture of a tigress that had killed a gaur and consumed a lot of meat to the point of limit. From the side angle one can see that the midsection of cats expands not only vertically but also horizontally, like a balloon, when actually gorged:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Jaguars are said to be able to consume up to 25 kg of meat in one single seating, which would create a similar look in their mid-section as 20-25 kg represent 1/6th of the mass of an extremely large male and one a fifth of an average male of 115 kg.

When we look at the pictures of the captures from Lopez, one can see that his stomach does not protrude forward as he lays on the ground, it is flat. It does lay downwards, but this is to be expected of jaguars who have wide vertical sections with short limbs:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Compare his mid-section to that of an actually gorged felid as the tigress above, and it's pretty clear he was empty, just like the Jaguar ID stated.

Asesino, the large male jaguar hunted by Siemel quoted as having weighed 158 kg, on the other hand, does show some stomach content as its stomach is expanded on the side:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Looking at the jaguar's proportions, I estimate 5-7 kg of stomach content inside of him, as he was far from gorged, but not empty either. My guess is that Asesino probably weighed in between 150-152 kg empty, which is around the maximum size that Hoogesteijn stated for Pantanal males, and is around the same size range as Lopez, and estimated large jaguars like Edno or Joker who may wader in the range as well.

Here is a picture of the head of Asesino, clearly he was a huge individual, a prime example of the size potential of Pantanal jaguars:

*This image is copyright of its original author

While agree that we should always strive to know as many details as possible of the state of an animal when it was weighed, we shouldn't be quick to dismiss very high values as "gorged individuals", not very low values (as is the case with Jairzao) as individuals in dire state. It's best to have an open mind and look at it from an objective perspective. Just like humans, there are several factors that contribute to how much an animal grows and we should keep them in mind when analyzing them.

Very interesting point on stomach content.


By the way there are other adjustments to be done on the table. when they are all done let me know. Reply