Modern Weights and Measurements of Wild Lions

[peter]

PC

Thanks for the scans. Could you elaborate a bit on the source? Year of publication?

Unfortunately, the author didn't quite succeed in transforming feet and inches into cm. Same for pounds and kg. The pages you scanned suggest it could be best to use the inches and pounds.  

Here's a few remarks on the info you posted.  

a - Size of lions in Somaliland and Kenia

In the days of the British Raj, quite a few hunters made the trip from India to Africa to hunt lions. Northeast Africa was not that far from India. 

Most of those who published about their experiences didn't say a lot about the size of lions shot in that part of Africa. Based on what I found, they seemed to have been a bit smaller than lions shot in other regions in Africa. The largest lion skull I saw, however, belonged to a male captured in that part of Africa. He was shipped to Europe and his skull ended up in the former Zoological Museum of Amsterdam.  

At the level of averages, lions shot in what's now Kenia seem to be a bit larger than lions shot in what used to be 'Somaliland'. Individual variation in both regions, however, was quite outspoken. Exceptional individuals have been shot in Kenia in particular. I'm not only referring to the 600-pound lion discussed by 'WaveRiders'. There are more reliable records of very large lions shot in Kenia. 

In this respect, Kitchener could be right: variation within populations seems to be more pronounced than variation between populations. Exceptional lions can be found just about everywhere.   

b - Cape and Barbary lions

Some years ago, I measured all big cat skulls in the Wiesbaden Museum and the Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde in Stuttgart. I saw the alleged Cape lions myself. I also saw the skeleton of an alleged Cape lion in the former Zoological Museum of Amsterdam (ZMA). Sizewise, they don't seem to be very different from lions shot in other regions in Africa. 

I only saw a few skulls of lions shot in the southern tip of South Africa a long time ago. Compared to skulls of lions shot in other regions in South Africa, they seemed shorter and a bit more robust. 

All skulls of alleged Barbary lions I saw belonged to lions born and raised in captivity. They did seem different from other lion skulls. I will post everything I have in the lion extinction thread in some time. Reply