ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[GuateGojira]

This captive lion (294.6 kg) came from the document of Dr Stephen Wroe of 2005.
 
However, I have my doubts about it, as in other documents he quoted another captive lion what a calculated weight of 267 kg, but at the end, the calculation was incorrect that the real weight was probably much lower.
 
Just a correction, the heaviest lion used by Dr Christiansen is of 203 kg, not 204 kg.
 

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Here is the data about that lion of 267 kg:
Fake lion of 267 kg from Asad
Did someone remember how many times the idiot of Asad quotes the lion of 267 kg from Wroe??? Well, check this out:
 
From Mushiya:
 “As much as I hate to burst your bubble, it should be pointed out that the 267kg lion in your list was not in existence.
 
The weight figure you quoted, if I got it right, is from McHenry et al.’s paper "Supermodeled sabercat ...", for which the Supporting Information can be viewed here:
Table 1. Skull measurements and body mass estimates for the specimens used in this study

	TSL, mm	BSL, mm	SWZ, mm	ML, mm	ML: BSL	Hc, mm	Fc, mm	BoM, kg
P. leo CN6043	325							170
P. leo AM M1779	378	332	261	225	0.68			267
S. fatalis LACM PMS 1-1		310				128	110	283
S. fatalis AM F45779		289	195	174	0.60			229

TSL, total skull length (premaxilla-lamboid); BSL, basal skull length (premaxillae-occipital condyles); SWZ, skull width at zygoma, maximum width of zygomatic arches; ML, mandible length (anterior dentary to condyle); Hc, minimum mid-shaft circumference humerus; Fc, minimum mid-shaft circumference femur; BoM, body mass.
Source: http://www.pnas.org/content/104/41/16010/suppl/DC1
 
As detailed in Table 1 and SI Text, an estimated body weight of 267kg for P. leo AM M1579 is derived from the actual body weight of 170kg for P. leo CN6043 based on an allometric relationship between body weight and skull length in the species.
 
However, a glaring error is committed by the authors - they confuse basal skull length (BSL, measured from premaxillae to occipital condyles) with total skull length (TSL, measured from premaxilla to lamboid) for P. leo CN6043, which means that 325mm should have been the lion`s basal skull length instead of its total skull length and hence an overestimated body mass for P. leo AM M1579 although it is described by Wroe as a "[i]particularly large" specimen.[/i]
 
Actual body weights and cranial measurements for CN6043 and CN7321 (as given below) are listed in Table 5 of Christiansen and Adolfssen`s article "Osteology and ecology of Megantereon cultridens SE311...", where skull length is specified as "length of skull from premaxilla to the occipital condyles".
 
Panthera leo CN6043
BSL 325.0mm
BM  170kg
 
Panthera leo CN7321
BSL 359.7mm
BM  203kg
 
By comparison, P. leo AM M1579 has a BSL at 332mm, indicating a skull size somewhat larger than that of CN6043 but quite a bit smaller than that of CN7321. Thus, its actual body mass could be somewhere between 170 and 203kg, and may have been much closer to the bottom end than the top end thereof.
 
As a result, McHenry et al.`s weight estimate of 267kg for P. leo AM M1579 was clearly wrong. Instead, a weight of 180-190kg would seem more realistic.
 
In addition to what has been mentioned above, here is another perfect example showing the relationship between actual body size and skull length in P. leo.
“A technique used to measure the large African predators”
 
http://www.wildliferanching.com/content/...-predators
 
"The ratio of the width of the skull [i.e. a straight line between the zygions
(most outer points of the zygomatic arches)] to the length of the skull [i.e. a
straight line from the bases of the incisors (prosthion, most anterior point of
the skull) to the inion (most posterior point of the skull)] of the five specimens
was calculated from the data in Table I, namely: 1:1.55, 1:1.51, 1:1.53, 1:1.11
and 1:1.38."
 
An adult male lion(ALPRU00047) weighing 177.5kg has a skull length of 376mm, just 2mm shorter than that of AM M1579 which is measured at 378mm.
 
I would be surprised if you should tell me there was someone with a modicum of knowledge about big cat anatomy who believed that a negligible 2mm difference in total skull length could lead to a huge 89.5kg difference in body weight for lions.
 
Hope it helps.
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I posted this before here: http://animalbattle.yuku.com/topic/8/Eve...1g9WVcXK8w

So, just like the lion of 267 kg, I think that the one of 295 kg is probably another miscalculation and certainly just an exaggeration.
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