ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - D - THE LEOPARD (Panthera pardus)

[BorneanTiger]

(02-14-2019, 12:11 PM)Spalea Wrote: About #137: "I saw panthers nearly as large as the lions"... The size of the Barbary lion is taking a hit.

About #138: Just as amazed as you are @ShereKhan : I just believed that black panthers were rarer in Africa than in Asia. In any case inside the dense forests, possible too that in "open spaces", savannah or steppe, black panthers don't exist.

About the size of the Barbary lion, as mentioned here (https://wildfact.com/forum/topic-the-siz...ion?page=4) the Atlas lion wasn't large, for example, it was short at the shoulder compared to other lions (A measurement of 95 cm or 3 feet 1⅜ inches was given: https://archive.org/stream/bookoflion191...erian+lion

*This image is copyright of its original author

), as shown by Pease himself (https://archive.org/stream/bookoflion191...0/mode/2up), and apparently this is because it had rather short legs (Page 37: http://carnivoractionplans1.free.fr/wildcats.pdf), but what gave people the impression that it was large amongst lions can be seen to be the following:

1) A gigantic mane which covered the belly (https://archive.org/stream/mammalsofsov2...4/mode/2up). Just as the thick fur of the Siberian tiger makes it look bigger than the Bengal tiger, despite the fact that on average, wild Bengal tigers outweigh wild Amur tigers (http://fishowls.com/Slaght%20et%20al%202005.pdf), a lion with a thick mane would look bigger than a lion with a weak or no mane.

2) Obesity: Pease (https://archive.org/stream/bookoflion191...0/mode/2up) mentioned that Atlas lions got "very fat" by feeding on mutton.

3) Muscular physique: Even aside from the issues of obesity and the size of the mane, its physique was apparently muscular, like by having a deep chest (http://carnivoractionplans1.free.fr/wildcats.pdf) Reply