ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - B - THE LION (Panthera leo)

[johnny rex]

(04-23-2014, 08:58 AM)Kingtheropod Wrote:  Regarding the lions of Botswana and the Ngamiland area (Okavango/Chobe) in particular I would also respectfully disagree. The Okavango/Chobe region is well protected and has a naturally high abundance of prey, ideal for producing big lions. There doesn’t appear to be much data available on their weight but they were regarded as being large and impressive by professional hunters and their skulls feature prominently in the record books. For example, even Peter Capstick who you’ve noted above considered Botswanan lions among the biggest as did John Kingsley-Heath, another experienced professional hunter of the 60s/70s.  Apart from the 2 unusually low weights reported by Smithers which I suspect were taken from animals in poor condition the only other recorded weight from Botswana I’m aware of for a male lion is from the Central Kalahari Lion Research Project. On their old website it was stated that the biggest of the 4 males they had collared at the time (about 3 years ago) weighed 222kg. Also, in the book “Cry of the Kalahari” written by researchers, Mark and Delia Owens it is stated that a pair of young adult males each weighed over 450lbs (205kg). The Owens did collar some of the lions they studied but it’s not clear whether these lions were actually weighed or whether this was an estimate.

A big male lion immobilized by the CKLR project, possibly the 222kg specimen.

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Excerpt from “Cry of the Kalahari” pertaining to the weight of 2 young adult males from the Central Kalahari GR in Botswana.

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Though there doesn’t appear to be any published data on lion weights from northern Botswana (Okavango/Chobe) we do have pretty good data from the surrounding regions. Average weights from Namibia in the west, the Kalahari in the south, and Zimbabwe in the east fall in the 400-440lb range so it’s reasonable to suspect something similar from the Okavango. In fact, the highest weights are from north-western Zimbabwe from the Matetsi/Hwange region which is right on the border with northern Botswana and forms a continuous block of wilderness with the Chobe NP and the Okavango. The lions of Matetsi/Hwange are actually part of the same population block as those in northern Botswana. Thus with the same genes and more abundant prey I would expect the Okavango lions to be at least as large.

Lion skulls from the 1975 Rowland Wards. Skulls from Botswana feature prominently in these records with a number over 400mm (15.75") from the region. Note: Ngamiland refers to northern Botswana (Okavango/Chobe region) and specific places such as Khwai, Xugana, Khurunzaragha, Savuti all lie within this region.

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And in case you guys haven't already seen this, here’s some data on Namibian lions from the paper, "The use of Sernylan as an immobilising agent and anaesthetic for wild carnivorous mammals in South West Africa" 1970.  Four adult males which were weighed averaged 422.5lbs (192kg), ranging from 390lb to 500lbs.

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There's no indication given in the paper that baits were used to capture lions. The methods section from the paper.

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And yes some of the lions were indeed weighed. Only those marked in the table by "c" were estimates, this should be obvious. And though it certainly is unlikely that the exact weights of all those lions ended exactly in O's, the recorded weight would depend on the type of scale used as some are less precise than others and give figures rounded to the nearest 10lbs. That means a lion which weighs 403lbs would register as 400lbs on such a scale, doesn’t change the fact that lion was weighed.  At the very least it gives a very precise estimate of weight (ie. 395-405lbs)

Photo of a lion being weighed from the same paper.

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Is that 18 inch lion skull measured accurately? Are those measurements in Rowland Wards list reliable? That's definitely the largest lion skull if it was indeed measured accurately. What is pretty amazing is most of the 16+ inch lion skulls belong to East African lions (which are usually smaller than the Southern African lions) and the 2nd longest skull according to the list actually belong to a Central African lion which is normally smaller than the Southern African lion. But @GuateGojira also mentioned a 432 mm lion skull which also featured in Rowland Wards although I forgot which edition. Reply