American Lion (Panthera atrox)

[Spalea]

(11-02-2018, 01:49 AM)GuateGojira Wrote:

(10-23-2018, 04:33 PM)Spalea Wrote: Two sources about the pantera atrox's size:

1) The lions of Tsavo by Bruce D. Patterson:

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author


2)The big cats by Nancy A. Neff:

*This image is copyright of its original author

About the book of Dr Patterson: That book was made in 2004 (is an excelent one, byt he way), and those mass estimations of 340 - 522 kg came from the calculations made by Dr Anyonge in 1993. These weights are known to be gross exagerations and Dr Christiansen prove it very good in his document of 2005 (about the body mass of Smilodon); sadly in this days some documents still quote those erroneous figures. The best calculations on this animal estimate a maximum weight of c.360 kg, which make sense if we take in count that the heaviest modern tigers and lions captured/hunted in the wild had a maximum weight of 250-260 kg, "empty belly", not fat and not cattle-eaters.


Nancy A. Neff made a good estimation of the maximum total length for the largest Panthera atrox. The head-body length estimated for the largest specimen is of 250 cm (straigh or along the curves? it not known). So depending of the length of the tail, which is very variable even in modern great cats, a lenght of 360 cm is not out of question.

Agree... I have to say that I have never believed to a more-than-450-kilo lion. Thus a 522-kilo-lion is quite unreal. However, taking notice of all I have read about American lion, I think that 300-350 kilos is a reasonable figure. If the cat's body size is 250 cm, and if we add a tail of one meter, as the extant lions have, we have a lenght of 350 cm. Thus 360 cm lenght is anything but absurd. Reply