Size comparisons

[Luipaard]

Quote:It may be worthwhile to look at some data on different body measurements to see how male leopards compare in build with female jaguars. Luckily we have this sort of data available for both at more or less comparable weights. Despite what most of you seem to believe, the jaguaress doesn’t appear to hold much of a physical advantage over an equal sized male leopard. At similar weights a male leopard will actually have a slightly more massive head, a much thicker neck, and a comparably massive chest. Limited data on forearm girth also doesn’t seem to show any notable difference. Excerpts from the book, “Jaguar Hunting in the Matto Grasso and Bolivia” 1990 by Tony Almedia. Very detailed measurements of jaguars from the Pantanal are provided in this great book.

Average dimensions for adult female jaguars from the Pantanal were: 

Weight: 76.8kg 
Chest Girth: 91.4cm 
Head Girth: 60.5cm 
Neck Girth: 54.5cm 
Forearm Girth: 34.7cm 


Measurements of leopards captured for research in South Africa. Fully mature males (7 years and older) had an average weight which was somewhat comparable to that of adult Pantanal jaguaresses. Though it should be noted that leopards in this study were captured using baited cage traps which typically use baits weighing around 5-10kg, so the weight of the male leopards was probably inflated by about 5kg (taking into consideration defecation etc.). Almeida on the other hand hunted his jaguars with hounds and did not use baits, though his weights were also not adjusted for stomach content. Nonetheless, the female jags in this sample were probably around 10% heavier than the mature adult male leopards in the below study.

*This image is copyright of its original author

Here we can see that despite being a little smaller, mature male leopards had a comparable head circumference and an appreciably thicker neck. The chest girth was lower but understandably so given their smaller overall size. At equal weight the male leopard would at least match the female jag in these 3 measurements. Note the max weight in the sample at 75kg was barely equal to the average for the female jags while the max recorded head, neck, and chest circumference were all greater than the average for a Pantanal jaguaress. Head, neck, and chest circumference are particularly useful measurements not only because they give us a good idea of the forebody’s proportions but also because they can be taken with consistency and are generally taken with standard methodology and can thus be compared across samples. Another useful measurement may be fore arm girth though unlike the other three girth measurements this may vary with how relaxed the animal is when measured. For comparison, a 69kg male leopard had a left and right forearm girth of 32 and 37cm, respectively. Again the leopard’s not looking too bad, though the fact this was a live leopard may mean it wasn’t completely relaxed when sedated and measured.

It may also be relevant to see how a male jaguar would stack up against a male leopard and female jag of around the same weight. The following excerpt from Almeida’s earlier 1976 book provides measurements of a male Amazon jaguar. It weighed 79kg gorged and probably would have weighed around 65-70kg empty stomach, pretty much the same as the mature male leopards in the KZN study.

It’s measurements in cm: 
Weight: 79kg (gorged) 
Chest: 92.1cm 
Head: 63.5cm 
Neck: 55.9cm 
Forearm: 35.6cm 

This male jag had more impressive measurements for its weight than the male leopards but the difference wasn’t that big and in neck girth the leopards still had the edge. In terms of head and chest girth the jag did have the advantage but it certainly isn’t huge, for perspective the leopard’s advantage over the cougar in these measurements at equal weights appears more significant. Also I would note that all the data for leopards was from South Africa where they probably aren’t the most impressive, leopards in some other regions are likely bigger and more robust.

Based on this, I'd say a Central African leopard will certainly do better than a mediocre South African leopard. Reply