Comparing Cats: A Discussion of Similarities & Differences

[peter]

Good work, PC. Interesting and many thanks.

I was familiar with one study and can confirm most conclusions. I have some doubts as to the relative strength of jaguar skulls, but most jaguar skulls I saw were from Surinam and the number was limited. Jaguars have distinct subspecies and it could be size has an effect on robustness.

Some of the jaguar skulls I saw were larger and heavier than those of smallish Sumatran tigers. In spite of that, Sumatran tiger skulls very often had larger and more robust teeth. Same for skulls of similar size. One could say that jaguar skulls, compared to skulls of Sumatran tigers, have more skull than teeth and be close. Same for the other two species (P. leo and P. pardus). The difference between P. onca and P. pardus, even when they are similar in size, is in many respects significant.   

It is often stated that jaguars, skullwise, are closer to tigers than to lions, but in my opinion jaguar skulls are closer to lion skulls. Lion, jaguar and leopard skulls, apart from size, are quite close to each other. Tiger skulls seem to be different.

The effect of captivity in big cat skulls usually is well visible and significant. Very often, captive skulls are deformed and asymmetrical. They also are relatively wide, not as elevated and not as dense and heavy. Teeth in wild skulls also are larger and much more robust. Reply