Modern Weights and Measurements of Jaguars

[GuateGojira]

(10-22-2020, 03:25 AM)Balam Wrote: I have some exciting new data to share here @Dark Jaguar @peter @Pckts @GuateGojira @epaiva @Lycaon and all other readers.

I have been in contact for a while with the team at Oncafari, like many other biologists the likes of Hoggesteijn, Tortado, Crashaw etc. They became aware of our compilation table, the biologist Edu Fragoso was kind enough to formulate a chart with all the weights from the jaguar they have captured at Caiman Ecological Refuge in the south of the Pantanal. He sent me the table with al the correct information, including some unpublished weights for a couple of jaguars, the table created by Oncafari and thus coming directly as a first-hand source from a scientific institution is here, this is a WildFact exclusive:

*This image is copyright of its original author

All the weights were inputted into our own table with the exception of Ipe, the reason being that he was a sub-adult of 1,3 years old when captured, as can be seen in their chart. Edu told me that "Brutus" (115 kg) is not the same jaguar as "Brutos" (120 kg), who was captured by biologist Gediendson in collaboration with Oncas do Rio Negro. This had previously caused confusion among us here, but we have been given a clear answer directly from the biologists themselves.

A new male named Robusto (Robust) was provided with an outstanding weight of 137 kg, I was clueless about the existence of this male as they had not shared him on their page before. This also contradicts certain accusations that we have received by a couple of users at a different forum entailing that these organizations only posted the heaviest jaguars captured for amusement purposes, clearly these organizations are among the most prestige and they abide by very tight standards, the biologists who work for them have one single goal and that is to study these jaguars and collect as much data as possible in order to advance their conservation.

The table above also gives us a glimpse into the data for the females in the area, which will be essential for our next table involving the female jaguars from the Pantanal. I do want to highlight the impressive weights coming from them, with several in the 90s and Troncha in the 100s kg of weight, which we knew of already.

Edu told me that currently, Oncafari is attempting to capture jaguars at Da Ilha refuge, as I stated here before, but unfortunately, the team has not been successful so far. They still have 4 more nights on fieldwork so the chances of a jaguar being baited remain a possibility.

In regards to the weight for Shaka, their own table (a scientific document) clearly solidified his weight as 131 kg. The claim Edu made before of him weighing 118 kg at a different capture is relevant, but as I said before this drop in weight could be the result of the deteriorating of the body of the animal as a result of aging, no stomach content has been quoted by Oncafari to jump to conclusions that he was "gorged" during his initial capture. As the weight they provided is 131 kg, that is the weight we will retain.

Lastly, I have included their estimation for Joker's weight in our table under a comment. It's safe to say that they are being conservative with their estimation of its weight as they've clearly specified that he most likely weighed more than 140 kg, and seeing as though they already captured a jaguar at nearly that size (Robusto), it's clear that they notice a size difference between him and Joker that warranted said estimate. It's also important to highlight that other massive jaguars such as Ghost and Houdini who did not fall into the baiting traps could never be captured by the team, but looking at all this data it's safe to say that the average for male jaguars is higher than 100 kg, at least in designated areas, as none of the adult males captures by Oncafari was under 100 kg in weight.

As a result, the table has been updated and can be accessed here, our sample includes 61 jaguars with an average of 112.05 kg of weight. Please keep in mind that I'm still waiting for the Jaguar ID to provide for me weights for males captured by Panthera at Porto Jofre, due to the fire situations the vets and the entire team have been extremely busy. Be on the lookout for more jaguar weights from the Pantanal, as well as for the future papers from Panthera involving Colombian Llanos jaguars that were confirmed to me recently as well.

Kind regards!

Congratulations! You had made an excelent work and your tables are the first ones about jaguars in the web as far I know.

I am glad that new people is following the dream that Wildfact represents, the search of true information about the wild world. I have been working with tigers and lions, now your are taking care of jaguars and I really appreaciate that. Certainly you will be the source for jaguars in the size department.

I will follow your progress, I am very happy with your work.

Greetings my friends! Reply