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

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peter

Co-owner of Wildfact

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#176

09-10-2019, 06:46 AM

SKULLS OF MALE LEOPARDS IN THE STAATLICHES MUSEUM FüR NATURKUNDE STUTTGART

a - Introduction

A few weeks ago, in the thread 'Size Comparisons', I posted information on a number of male leopard skulls I had measured in the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart in 2012. The skulls were from what used to be German East Africa (now, largely, Tanzania). In that post, I said the Staatliches Museum also had leopard skulls from other regions. Poster 'Chui' asked me to post a bit more on these skulls in particular.

Last week, I was busy. Yesterday and today, I had time. I decided for a table with measurements, as this would result in a kind of overview. I added a few photographs in order to enable you to see the differences between skulls from different regions.

b - Remarks on the table

The table, an original for Wildfact, has measurements of 24 male leopard skulls. Skulls 01-11 were collected in the former German East Africa (Tanzania). Skulls 12-22 were collected in other regions. Skulls 01-22 are from wild male leopards. Skulls 23 and 24 are from male zoo leopards. As they're very similar to the skulls collected in the former German East Africa (skulls 01-11), the owners most probably were descendents from Tanzanian leopards.

Directly below the table, I added a bit of information on the skulls. In order to prevent questions, I'll explain what was measured.

WEI (weight in kg.)
HEI (height at the orbit in cm.)
GTL, CBL, ZYG, MAX, PM4 and UCL (measurements in mm.)

UCL - upper canine length in a straight line from the insertion to the tip
MAX - maxillary width

c - Labels

Nearly all big cat skulls in natural history museums have labels. Some are informative, but others have no information. Those in the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde in Stuttgart, as far as I know (Dr. Mörike agreed), have no errors, but some labels were all but empty. The label of skull 16 is one.

I thought the skull was from a male leopard shot in a rain forest somewhere in central Africa, as it was very similar to other skulls from this region. Dr. Mörike agreed. She said skulls of male leopards shot in tropical rain forests in Africa are large as a general rule. The choana usually is narrow and shallow. This is typical of leopards shot in tropical rain forests.

d - Table

Here´s the table. All in all, it took me about 2 days to do it. As far as I know, it has no errors. If you, however, see something suspicious, let me know. Apart from the height (HEI) of the skull at the orbit (in cm.), all measurements are in mm. The weight (WEI) of the skull is expressed in kg.

*This image is copyright of its original author

For comparison, I added Chui´s table. His table has measurements of skulls of exceptional male leopards. As you can see, the differences are pronounced. One reason is leopards have subspecies. A second is individual variation, especially in adult males, is well developed.

Although Indian tigresses have wider and more robust skulls (at the level of averages), skulls of exceptional male leopards can be almost as long as skulls of small tigresses. Skulls of exceptional male leopards from central and southern parts of Africa and Iran are about as long as skulls of small Indian tigresses:

*This image is copyright of its original author

e - Photographs

The 5 skulls below are among the largest (see the table above). As a result of a lack of time, we were only able to do profile photographs. We tried to do it from the same angle and distance, but didn't quite succeed. All photographs were taken by poster Wanderfalke, who assisted when he had time.

The leopard skulls I saw suggest the differences between different regions could be structural. When watching the photographs, focus on lines, general shape and the relative size of the face. Let me know what you see.

Skull 10 - Tanzania (217,83 x 134,80 mm - 0,416 kg):