Modern Weights and Measurements of Wild Lions

[GuateGojira]

(02-23-2022, 03:18 AM)SpinoRex Wrote: Also i was checking some weights recently and found some infos about that 272 kg lion from Namibia(Etosha), he was at the stage of death before being killed. I thought it would be interesting for many here(Will post it on a different thread). This male lion was like Ximpoko the forefather of a huge male lion coalition (Probably even bigger than the birimingham boys).

He had a paw diameter of 23cm! And here the full stor of him explained! (Original language is dutch): http://peterjasie.co.za/wallie-els.html

Quote:My first acquaintance with Etosha is in the 60s / 70s with the legendary Roy Sterley, working at the Anderson reception gate on the way to the Okaukuajo camp.

He impressed me with his courtesy, charm and gallant attitude, especially towards ladies by lighting a small flower for them and saying: "A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady".

He was an excellent shooter with a revolver and deadly with a knife. His training ground was his own private shooting range just outside the gate. Every year tons brought him the empty beer and soft drink cans seeing that there was always a shortage of him for target shooting.

It is said that on one occasion a motorist hit him and before he hit the ground, his revolver was out of its sheath and he was ready to shoot.

People may have called him a "showman", but I found him a remarkably respected and true gentleman.

So over time I got to know Barnebi de la Batt, Polla Swart, Stoffel Rocher and many others, as well as the old Phalaborites like GP and his sister Fanie le Roux, Schalk van der Sand and their families, and so I learned about the “ lion parties ”held at Leeubron.

There was a herd of lions with the male named Castor in command. He won the position after defeating his brother Pollux in a fight over a female, possibly Isabella. Castor was a majestic beast and had a hanging lip left over from the battle. This was probably the most photographed herd of lions in the world.

Every Wednesday and Saturday evening a goat was shot and taken to Leeubron where it was hooked to a chain, one point of which was cemented in the ground, and then driven away.

Castor and his herd then started with the festival and sightings of tourists who were then allowed in ten cars (at 10 Shillings- R1.00 per car) at the festival.

Stoffel Boucher tells me the following:

One night a newly appointed official asked if he could control the lion festival. Permission was granted to him and on arrival there he stopped and did not hook the chain but climbed out and sat on the hood and took out his documentation to check the cars' registration numbers so as to see if everyone had paid.

The spectators tried to get his attention but he did not mind. He then climbed down to walk backwards to hook the chain. The reason why the spectators wanted to draw his attention was that Castor had already jumped up and was eating. With a growl in his face the official fell backwards and with one leap he jumped through his window, into the vehicle.

Much later he shouted at Mynhardt Blom: "What are we doing now and how do I get out of this dilemma? !!"

With the help of Blom and his VW Beatle, they then managed to get Castor off the bowl and hook the chain so the festival could continue.

Jack van der Spuy tells me the following:

One night he decides to inspect the lion festival. Arriving there, he finds the man in control full of blood in his face and clothes. Upon inquiry, the official explained that the passengers of an eleventh car, who did not pay, became aggressive with him 
when he tried to send them back and a fight broke out. The lions came to see what was going on and they had to flee in their cars. After the lions returned to the prey, the fight between and official and the tourist resumed. Jack sent the official back and sorted out the extra tourists himself.

So there can probably be a lot of anecdotes coming up.

These festivals were stopped by Jymie Ebedis. He felt it was unnatural and the lions would no longer be able to adapt well in the wild. Many people were also unhappy because the lions were not there every Wednesday and Saturday either. However, it remains the free nature.

Castor is getting old and Stoffel saw one day, when he passed by Leeubron, this beloved, once majestic animal l and was dying by the water. There was a swarm of foxes just waiting for him to die. Stoffel went to Okaukuajo to fetch his gun and witnesses to rescue the animal from its suffering. The post-mortem examination revealed that he had a fever due to pneumonia.

Giel Visser and Pieter Buys were told to make a plaster cast of the forepaw. The print was later cast in the form of an ashtray to sell to raise funds. I had the privilege of being able to buy one of the ashtrays. There may also be a printout for the research station at Okaukuajo. The skin has been the jewel in Polla Swart's office in Windhoek for many years.

Our radio amateurs have a local talk radio that can contact widely through amplifiers and hehalers. So I listen with one and a half ears to a few people in the Pietersburg area. I then heard a young doctor tell of the beautiful gift given to him by one of his patients. It was a print of a lion's trail in the shape of an ashtray measuring 12cm in diameter. 

According to their conversation, I could deduce that they were under the impression that it was a massive big one. I got up and went to measure Castor's. It was 23cm compared to their 12cm. I figured that because 23 is almost 2 x 12, I would just shrink it to 19cm. 

At the first opportunity, I break into the conversation and tell them my story as outlined above. The doctor then responded as follows:

First, he compliments me on my beautiful story, telling me I am privileged to be able to come to such places and to have such special experiences. He reckons that in his consulting room, directly behind him against the wall, hangs a trophy from an impala head. A strange thing happened, when I mentioned the dimensions of my ashtray's track, the goat started crying and tears dripped down his shoulder.

He is the forefather of the Leeubron Coalition (nowadays located in Kruger) and died 1963 in Etosha. Here are the pictures of him:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/64920366...675261640/

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author

*This image is copyright of its original author


I thought its worth to be mentioned

SHORT NOTE: On the lion Castor

From some years ago I see that some fans mention the lion "Castor" as a record specimen of 272 kg, however there is no scientific document, no paper, no book that mention this figure. There was just one image from an unknown paper/book that mention this. So I investigated and I found the original source of that weight, check it:

*This image is copyright of its original author

Now, the interesting thing is that Wood do not provide the source of his information and in the next edition he remouved this figure, obviously because is an error. Now, how we can be sure of this? Well because of the fact that the lion was NEVER WEIGHED. Check this from a book of 2007 where the late Dr Hu Berry participated:

*This image is copyright of its original author

As we can see, it was the people, the persons that saw him that estimated that weight, and in the moment when he died it was in a very bad shape, so a posthumous weight could not be as high as 272 kg, specially by the description of the lion in that moment.

So, this is the problem when we don't dig on the figures. The record of lion Castor is not real and we can discarded inmediatelly.

Two last things:

1. The paw print, like PCKTS says, vary depending of the soil, we know this thanks to the Amur tigers that were measured both, in snow and in the animal itself. So that paw size reported by Castor is unreliable and definitelly an exageration.

2. In the same document of Gerald Wood he mention the reports of the Barbary lions of 300 kg and he also concluded that are unreliable. So, for the Barbary "fans", there is no reliable information about weights of Barbary lions up to 300 kg, that is a myth created by the French hunter (cog cog..Gerard...) that also said that Barbary leopards were of the same size as lions (sic!). Reply