Size comparisons

[GuateGojira]

(12-14-2019, 12:34 PM)BorneanTiger Wrote: I'd like to mention that 10.4 tons or 11.5 short tons is the record for the African bush elephant, as accepted by Guinness (1982), and this was quoted by Larramendi in page 553: https://www.app.pan.pl/archive/published...362014.pdf

This diagram of elephants next to standing humans was made Steveoc 86, who used the work of Larramendi and others to make this diagram: 

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

Actually that is not correct. The figure of about 10-11 tons is not a real figure, is just an estimation. Larrimendi (2016) knows that and he says: "Therefore, the tallest Loxodonta africana on record (396 cm) is predicted to have weighed 10.4 tonnes, 1.9 tonnes less than previous estimates (Wood 1982)."

The original source, which is Gerard Wood, says clearly that the weight is just an estimation. In the book of 1978 you can found it in page No. 16. So, no real record of a 10 tons elephant.

About real records, there are very few elephants actually weighed in the wild, but none of them surpass the 7 tons.  Gerard Wood (1978) states that the heaviest African elephant ever weighed was a male of 6,640 kg shot in Tanzania in 1935. The animal was weighed in pieces on an scale with capacity of 272 kg. 

Apps (2012) just mention a figure of "up to 6 tonnes" but do not metion a particular specimen. Owen-Smith (1988) mention that the heaviest male African elephant was a huge male of 6,600 kg but it was from captivity. He also quotes that other males culled in Uganda and Zambia got masses of up to 5,500 to 6,000 kg, but those were just estimations. Skinner & Chimimba (2005) quotes that the heaviest male ever weighed was a huge specimen of 6,569 kg and quotes Moss (1976) for that record. Also mention another male of 6,004 kg from Zambia. Finally Poole at al. (2013; in Kingdon et al., 2013) mention a figure of "up to 6,048 kg" but do not present more details, they also quote the record elephants from Moss, so it will be interesting to see more details about that particular specimen, which based in the scientific documents, is the heaviest male "actualy" weighed. 


Let's see if I can get more information latter, for the moment this is what I have at hand in my books. Reply